


45 Ways to Make a Werewolf Fall for You

by Miraphina Atherton (mew_tsubaki)



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fluff, Gen, M/M, Marauders' Era, even if only in smol doses, mostly canon-compliant, ohhhh man this is an old roller coaster ride so hang tight XD, that's right the angst has arrived
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-21
Packaged: 2019-03-29 05:07:29
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 33
Words: 31,300
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13920027
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mew_tsubaki/pseuds/Miraphina%20Atherton
Summary: The Marauders, in the prime of their lives, from the last day they set foot at Hogwarts all the way to a reunion thirteen years nearly too late. *Remus/Sirius-centric, relatively canon-compliant, for all of us who would like Remmius to have their happy ending—enjoy your fluff here!**A fan-favorite from FFN in 2011, edited and barely rewritten and come to AO3 at last.**





	1. Falling in love

**Author's Note:**

> The Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling, not to me. Some chapters are in Remus' POV; others are in Sirius', and the chapters feel more like drabbles at first, but you will see how canon events eventually culminate here. This is based on a list I've seen in people's profiles—"45 things that make you feel good"—so I hope you like it. :] Read, review, and enjoy!
> 
> *Special thanks goes out to my original audience for 45 Ways—100, 200, 300, 400, 500 reviews…they piled up so quickly! I appreciate the love you all have for this story, and I can only hope more enjoy it just as you did. :3

Remus John Lupin shook his head as he walked off the grounds of Hogwarts Castle with his best friends all around him. His smirk hid his quiet chuckles.

Beside him was Sirius Black, playboy extraordinaire, with his head back as his laughs shook his body so much he could barely walk. He had a hand each on Remus' and James' shoulders to support himself as they left.

On Sirius' other side was James Potter, whose glasses were askew and hair was as messy as ever. He had his fist closed around a roll of parchment, and his other hand was holding Lily's.

Lily Evans was at his side, holding said hand and hugging that arm to her. She, too, was laughing, though not nearly as hard as James and Sirius. She kindly nodded to another beside her.

Peter Pettigrew nodded back, trying to stop his snorts. He was laughing with the rest of them, for he was in disbelief, too. Seven years, seven long years…were now over.

They'd graduated.

Just like that, memories of their first meetings on the train and in the Great Hall seemed so far away, so insignificant. Everything had metamorphosed since then. James and Lily were _actually_ a couple. Peter had _actually_ lost some weight. Sirius _for once_ didn't have some witch glued to his lips. Remus had achieved his dream of, _effortlessly_ , being their class valedictorian. Yes, back then they'd been a ragtag band of shuffling firsties.

Now they were adults… The boys were men.

"I think a round for all of us, on Remus," Sirius stated loudly.

Remus blinked. "Wha…? Sirius, no, why me? And Peter isn't old enough yet for firewhiskey. His birthday's a month away."

"Oh, Moony, it's you because you're the class smarty-pants," Sirius said with a feigned pout. "'Sides, do us all a favor and be bad for once." He winked at him cheekily and slung an arm around his shoulders. "C'mon, Remmy, if you don't know how to be bad, I can teach you."

The brunet wizard snorted. "I've had years to watch and learn, Padfoot."

Sirius grinned wickedly. "I hope you took notes."

Remus rolled his eyes and noticed James and Lily had gotten further ahead of them, and even Peter was up ahead, trailing behind the couple. Remus smiled and relaxed. He rather kind of liked semi-alone time with Sirius. There were rare moments when he could see into Sirius' mind without the Animagus cracking a joke. Those moments Remus treasured…

He froze mid-step. Oh, no. Did he really…?

His neck warmed as Sirius stopped with him but didn't remove his arm from Remus. Suddenly, Remus was very aware of Sirius' every move—his eyes darting over Remus' face, his mouth coming down in a slight frown at not knowing what Remus was thinking at that moment, his breath coming out in a sigh as he waited patiently for Remus to say something, his feet inching him a little closer to Remus in spite of the summer heat.

Remus closed his eyes to shut out his sensory overload of Sirius. No, this couldn't be— After all, Remus had always— And there was no way that Sirius, or even Remus, would be—be _that_ way…

Right?

Finally, he looked into those gray eyes and realized only a minute had passed. Remus' chest tightened and loosened and repeated those actions until he finally told himself the words of which his instinct had just made him delightfully, painfully aware:

Remus was in love with Sirius.

Sirius cocked his head to one side, a habit he'd picked up from transforming into a dog often enough. "What's up, Remus?"

He watched Sirius' serious expression and saw the love, the care behind it. And then he broke out into a big smile as his chest swelled and his heart soared. "Nothing at all, Sirius."

"You sure? You look a little pale—whoa!"

Remus linked his arm through Sirius' and tugged him along. "I'm fine, Sirius. This day—it couldn't get any better."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D Count on most chapters being a happy ending. This 1st one may have seemed fast, but that's only because they've had a long history, and Remmius fans know it was Remmius all along. Tonks who? B)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew-tsubaki ;]
> 
> 2017 note: Ah, yes. 6 yrs later, I come back to one of my very favorite works. It's a lovely thing, rereading and editing one's old stories, but this one…this feels like visiting and reminiscing with an old friend. XD I still regard it as one of the best things I've ever written, across all my fandoms, now and future, and I just hope that new fans will enjoy this, too—whether you call it Remmius or Wolfstar, Remus/Sirius withstands time because their chemistry is too palpable, and I'm delighted to have written them so many times. -w-
> 
> And if you want to support 45 Ways, please swing by its AO3 version and consider liking and reblogging its [posts](http://camelliacats.tumblr.com/tagged/remmius%3A-45-ways-to-make-a-werewolf-fall-for-you) on my HariPo fic tumblr, camelliacats!
> 
> Lastly, this story is available partially in [Swedish](https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7248267/1/45_satt_att_fa_en_varulv_att_falla_for_dig) and partially in [Chinese](http://ww2.myfreshnet.com/BIG5/literature/indextext.asp?free=100241813&page=102697040&folderid=100473504&bookid=100050191)! Please give those a go if those are your languages! :D


	2. Laughing so hard your face hurts

"So this is my graduation present to Sirius," James told Remus when their friend was out of the room. They were in Remus' new apartment, and it would only be the three of them today, as Peter was helping out at home and Lily was trying to establish her next step in her future with her family.

Remus raised an eyebrow. "It's a wrapped box. James, what's in it?"

James grinned like a hyena and waggled his eyebrows. "Now, Moony, if I told you, it'd ruin the surprise, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, jeez—this isn't something I'll need to protect Sirius and me from, is it? Something I might need to call the Ministry for?"

His bespectacled friend gave him a look of mock horror. "Remus! I can't believe you'd ever suggest such a thing!"

"Suggestion, my foot. You just got an _idea_."

"That I did, Remus, that I did."

Sirius returned from the loo and drew his long hair onto one shoulder. "Godric, it's bloody hot out. Whoever thought the sun was a good idea was mental."

Remus laughed. "Sirius, without the sun, no one could survive."

"You mean without _me_ , no one could survive."

James raised his hand. "I'd make it by."

" _Hey_!" Sirius turned puppy-dog eyes on their other friend. "Remmy, _you_ couldn't live without me, right?"

Remus' cheeks flushed, and he tugged at his shirt collar. Since he'd realized recently it was more than friendly, brotherly love he had for his mate, it was hard to find the right answer immediately. "Heh…of course, Pads…"

Sirius' face brightened up. "See, Prongs?" he said dryly to James. " _Remus_ cares about me."

"Oh, I care, too, Padfoot." He passed him the gift. "So here, your graduation present."

"Really?" Even though he was in human form, Remus felt as though Sirius' tail was wagging. The Black son grabbed the box and tore off the paper. When he lifted the lid, his face fell. "What the—?! _JAMES_!" He held up a pair of scissors.

Sirius' reaction was what made it the funniest thing in the world. James fell on the floor, holding his sides as he laughed. Remus fell back against the arm of his couch, laughing so hard that tears were streaming down his face. This was a different kind of funny compared to what they'd experienced last week at graduation. That had been from the disbelief that they'd _all_ passed. Today was from James poking fun at Sirius' shaggy hair…and Sirius' expression reminded Remus of…well…of an angry puppy.

"And you, Remus! Joining James like that! That's completely unfair! I'm being prejudiced against!"

"S-S-Sirius—you sound ridiculous!" Remus spluttered.

Sirius' cheeks were red as they continued to laugh. "You two are ruddy gits, you know that? Gits—the both of you!"

Remus struggled to sit up, but he did and waved the Black brother off. "Oh, come off it, Padfoot. Even you would admit it was a good prank gift."

Slowly— _very_ slowly—Sirius broke into a mischievous grin. "…yeah, it was all right. But you know…"

At that tone of voice, Remus completely sobered up. "Sirius, what are you thinking?"

Sirius grinned at James. "Hey, James, maybe your hair wouldn't be so unruly if we gave it a shave…"

James shut up and scrambled behind the couch. "NOOO!"

Remus sighed as Sirius grabbed the gift and proceeded to run after James with the scissors. Yes, Remus loved even troublemaker Sirius…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD I really wanted to write this. It just seemed like something the boys would do. Especially Sirius turning it on James at the last moment… And remember, nice kiddies, it's bad to run with scissors. B) Do as the Marauders say, not as the Marauders do. ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;3
> 
> 2017 note: XD *LOL* Sometimes a straightforward, funny drabble is all you need to put a smile on your face! ;]


	3. A hot shower

Sirius growled to himself as he stepped into his new bathroom and slammed the door shut. He would be eternally grateful to Uncle Alphard for the money to buy this flat, but—but—!

He shook his head. No, he couldn't let it get to him… That'd be weird, wouldn't it?

Last night, the gang had invited a few of their other Gryffindor friends—now fellow Order of the Phoenix members—to a dinner at Remus' place. Frank and Alice had arrived together as thought, and Mary, Marlene, and Dorcas had come together soon after them. Remus had cooked along with Lily, and everything had looked honky-dory…

…until Sirius realized Marlene was vying for the werewolf's attention.

Sirius shook his head again. It wasn't because Remus was a werewolf; no, that wasn't it at all. It was just…just that…

He sighed. Sorting his thoughts could be a real pain sometimes.

He turned on the shower and stepped in, hoping the activity would ease his stress. It wasn't that Marlene had bothered Sirius…in a way. It was that she'd given her attention to Remus. No, wait, that wasn't quite right either…

It was because Remus had enjoyed her attention…?

HUH?

Sirius had always cared for Remus. They were Marauders, of course. But Remus had also always had this kind of fragility to him in spite of his monthly beast, and Sirius liked protecting that side of Remus. He liked that—that only _he_ really saw that side of Remus…

HUH?

He shook his head and finished up quickly, dressing and barely closing his front door before Apparating across town. He rapped three times on the door before him, his mouth set in a grim line.

Remus opened the door. "Sirius!" he said with some shock. "Why is your hair wet?"

"Shower," Sirius replied, smiling inwardly that it had not even occurred to Remus as strange that Sirius would pop over at such an odd time of the early evening, especially as he'd just seen him last night. He strolled into the living room and collapsed on the couch, his body still tense, though. He chocked it up to the bit of jealousy…

"Oh, Padfoot…" Remus clucked his tongue, and Sirius glanced up to see him shake his head. " _Accio towel_!" A towel came flying into his hand, and he bent over the back of the couch, gently rubbing the cloth against his friend's scalp. "You always act so rashly… Didn't anyone ever tell you you'd catch a cold if you went out with wet hair?"

Sirius snorted. "You just did, Remus."

He heard Remus sigh—and then the hands stopped. Just slightly, he heard Remus sniff, and then the hands moved again, this time a little shaky. Perhaps Remus had just caught his scent…?

Sirius tried his hardest to keep his smirk from Remus. That shower had been _very_ stress-relieving, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow… So much could be taken out of context here… XD *LOL*
> 
> Thanks for reviewing, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :3
> 
> 2017 note: The later chapters really stick out in my mind, but this one… Man, this is just cute. :D


	4. No lines at the supermarket

"Meetings have…turned into a bit of a potluck," Lily said with a chagrined expression.

Remus stared at her. "Are you kidding?" His quill stopped and formed a blotchy ink spot on his bit of parchment. He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Feeding those three…"

"Exactly," Lily said, grabbing a pillow off Remus' bed and flopping down on it. Remus could hear her grunt all the way from his desk where he sat. "Although, you can get just as hungry, Remus."

He smiled. "But not even the beast is as bad as them _put together_."

"No, I suppose not…" Lily sat up and tucked her legs under her. "You cook, don't you?"

"Well, yes, I live by myself now."

"Your food tastes pretty good, doesn't it?"

"Lily…no. I'm not donating my time to the Order like that."

"Mary and Alice do. James and Frank often try to join us in the kitchen, but it's just a disaster with them in there, milling about."

"No, Lily."

She let a moment pass. "Sirius said you're good at making little, cozy, homemade things."

Remus paused again, this time not facing Lily. Had she figured out what Remus had discovered only recently he himself felt…?

"And James and Pete say you have sensitive taste buds for sweets, like chocolate."

He sighed. No, she didn't. "Yeah, I've eaten enough of it over the years."

"Great," she said with a bright smile on her face. Lily took a little list out of her skirt pocket, skimmed it, and tore off a piece for Remus. "Then you can make this." She hopped up and gave him his portion. "Is that all right?"

Remus sighed again and took the list. "It's not as though you're going to actually listen to the 'no' from my mouth."

She giggled and pecked the top of his head. "Thanks a bunch, Remus. We'll see you at eight, then." Lily left his flat then and finally he returned to his research of creatures and people who might come in handy for the Order's and Dumbledore's connections.

Twenty minutes later, he noticed that if he didn't leave for his ingredients, he'd have no time to cook the meal without being late. With a shake of his head, Remus grabbed his cloak and jogged down the street to the Muggle food market. With one foot in the store, he heard an "Oi, wait up" behind him. Remus glanced over his shoulder and felt his stomach do a pleasant somersault.

Sirius looked happy to have seen him. "Moony, there you are!" He entered the building with Remus as if it were nothing. "Merlin, good thing I saw you beforehand. I was heading over to ask you if you wanted to play Exploding Snap, but I would've freaked if I found you absent."

That made Remus laugh. "You would, Sirius. But that's far from the case."

"Good." He said it with both a statement and a question in his tone, but, when Remus glanced at his mate, Sirius was gazing at the different things in the store.

"That's right," Remus said, taking his mind off things. "You don't really know Muggle grocery stores…"

"It's cool in here," Sirius said, nosing around a closed check-out line. "Hey, what's this do?" he asked, trying to jam his finger in a card scanner.

"Sirius, you can't… That's where someone swipes their credit card."

"Oh. What's a credit card?"

"It's a little piece of plastic that acts as money for Muggles," Remus answered with the patience of a saint; he was used to the boys asking him questions. Remus only had answers he'd gleaned from observation or, as was the typical case, from his books. "C'mon, Sirius, stop playing with the electronics and let's get what I need. Actually, be helpful—go get me a lemon and a bag of potatoes, please."

Sirius tore his gaze from the payment device, breaking its spell on him. "Huh? Yeah, sure. One lemon. One bag of potatoes." He paused. "Where…?"

"In the produce section, Padfoot."

"Ahaha…thanks, Moony."

Remus wondered if he'd done the right thing by allowing Sirius to go off on his own in the Muggle place, but he couldn't retract his words when Sirius sped off in the—luckily—correct direction. _At least he hasn't tripped over his own two feet yet,_ the werewolf thought with a shrug as he went to get the other items on the list.

He fetched several chicken breasts, found the proper dried herbs and spices, and grabbed butter, salt, and pepper. Remus left the aisle and looked up and down the store, wondering to where his friend had gotten. Then Sirius reappeared.

"Sirius! Why's your nose all red and blotchy?"

The Animagus laughed. "I, uh, tripped over my own two feet," he replied.

Remus struggled to keep his laughter in.

"Hey! It's not _that_ funny, git!"

"No, no, you're right…" Remus wiped a tear from his eye and took the food from Sirius and paid with some pounds. He was so happy that there were so few people in the store; they breezed in and out of the check-out line, and then…Sirius followed Remus home.

Perhaps potlucks were not as troublesome as one might have been led to believe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;) Okay, so a small pun with the "lemon," but this was cute, clean, and fluffy in the "awww! X3" way. ;D The next two chaplets—haha, mini chapters—are directly connected with the idea of these potluck meetings…specifically, this one. So please look forward to what comes next!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;}
> 
> 2017 note: Cuties. And mon dieu. Lemon/lime/citrus puns and references really date me, don't they? *ROFL*


	5. A special glance

As per usual, Sirius' stomach growled.

"Sheesh, Padfoot, do I need to feed the doggy a cat?" James joked while they waited for the Prewett twins to let them enter. Tonight's Order of the Phoenix meeting was to be held at their place, and it appeared James and Sirius were—for once—the early ones. And, to think, they weren't even there to play tricks on anyone.

Sirius tried to frown, but he was still plenty happy from spending time with Remus earlier in the day. "Argh, I'm just starving, Prongs."

"Wha…? I thought you went over to Moony's earlier, y'know, for Exploding Snap." James' brow furrowed. "Didn't you ransack his pantry?"

The Black son coughed to hide the snort in his throat. Godric, "ransack his pantry" sounded so _lewd_ …somehow sounding even more so by how nonchalantly James said it. "No, James, for once I left someone with sustenance."

"Great. Remus gets special treatment. Jerk."

"Twit."

"Git."

"Nimrod."

James grinned. "I haven't heard that one in ages—people need to use that more!" They shared a laugh, and then Gideon opened the door. It wasn't soon after that that the twins moved a few other things around and the other members began to arrive. Fabian and Gideon's apartment was a good size to hold the lot of them, too—there were well over a dozen of them, after all.

"I'm thinking Dumbly should organize an aerial squad," Fabian mused as he and his brother had the two Marauders help them set the table. "You know…"

"Dive bombing and aerial attacks on brooms, that sort of thing," Gideon finished for his twin.

"Think of the dung bombs alone!" they chorused, and James and Sirius had to put the plates down as they were howling with laughter.

"What's this you're musing?" Mary asked as she shed her cloak and waved her wand. Two pots of something delicious-smelling followed her into the dining area.

"Nothing," Sirius said right away. Mary looked doubtful, but he was able to distract her by complimenting the dish. "What is that, little Cornish hens?"

She beamed. "A handful of them. My uncle raises them, and he was more than happy to share."

"Jackpot!" James stated with a wide grin.

Once mostly everyone else was assembled—Elphias, Benjy, Caradoc, Edgar, Marlene, Dorcas, Lily, Remus, Hagrid, Sturgis, Arthur, Molly, Alice, Frank, and Dumbledore—a few words were exchanged. Dumbledore opened the meeting by covering some details of a few on-going and recent missions. After, though, he told everyone to dig in, as though everyone were still at school.

"Pete's missing out," James managed to garble around his mouthful of food.

Lily pulled a face. "Oh, Merlin… Chew your food, James."

Sirius grinned as his friends bickered like the old married couple they had yet to become. He, himself, eyed the table that was lined with various meals—and he smiled. "Lemon pepper chicken…" He grabbed two of the chicken breasts and a load of mashers and sat down at the table beside his favorite werewolf. "Moony, can you believe this? My favorite food!"

Remus' cheeks turned a healthy pink color. "O—Oh? Is that so?" He watched his plate as he used his fork to push around some vegetables. He glanced at Sirius. "That's great, Padfoot."

"Mmf," the Animagus said happily as he bit into the chicken. His eyes widened. This tasted _excellent_! "Holy Merlin! This—" He stopped when he noticed Remus' tiny grin. "What?"

"Oh, nothing, nothing…"

"No, really, what?"

"I was just thinking…"

"And the sky's blue. That's just how things are, Remus." Sirius gently shoved the brunet's arm.

"Hmm," he replied, a chuckle in his voice. "You're right, Sirius."

Sirius finished half his food before prodding his mate again. "So what's got you musing?"

Remus paused, staring at nothing in particular. "You really like that dish, huh?"

"Of course. I—"

Remus looked at him. His tawny eyes were as sparkly as ever…though of _course_ Sirius didn't think of them that way…heh. But those lids drifted partly over them, and something sensuous and tingle-inducing lay hidden within them. Remus' mouth was quirked in something halfway between a smile and a smirk. Whatever it was, Sirius liked it.

A lot.

Remus gently shoved Sirius' arm back. "Finish up, mate. We've still a meeting to convene."

"Uh…yeah, yeah," Sirius replied. However, his mind was preoccupied with visions of Remus…

Oh, yeah. There was no way Sirius would be paying anything _any_ attention tonight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X3 My favorite so far! And you'll think I'm mean for the twist in the start of the next chappie, but—as I said before—most of these will pretty much have happy endings. So what could possibly happen? ;D Oh, and I didn't gather everyone of the OotP in one place… I figure someone's always out doing something, so there's a little bit of creative license with them. B) Speaking of creativity…think Lily might've given Remus that part of the potluck list on purpose? B3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;]
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Honestly, I enjoy writing from both Remus' and Sirius' POVs. They're each ridiculous in their own ways. XD


	6. Getting mail

Remus gripped the hem of his jumper and tried reminding himself not to wring it. If he did, it'd be ruined. And ruining his nice clothes wouldn't get him anywhere right now. What good would ruining his jumper do for—for—

He sighed and hung his head as Peter nosed around the food in Remus' cupboards. They were at Remus' flat and actually on assignment. "Stay right where you are," Dumbledore had ordered. "You and Peter are to remain weights in this area," Dumbledore had said.

 _The only weight around here is the one in my chest_ , the werewolf snarled inwardly.

It was two weeks after that potluck meeting, and what a long time two weeks seemed. At the meeting, Dumbledore had asked those who were willing—and brash enough, in Remus' opinion—to go into the field and try nailing down the specifics on Voldemort's followers. James and Sirius' hands were the first ones up, beating out the Prewett twins' by a fraction of a second. Benjy, Dorcas, and Marlene had volunteered right after, and then Dumbledore had accepted them and cut off his offer to the rest. For the others, he asked for what were essentially safe houses. Arthur and Molly had agreed to that, as they needed to be around their young children. James already had given Lily a key to his new apartment, so Lily and Mary set up station at his place. Remus and Peter were in Remus' flat, and the remaining few would act as sentries, or go-betweens, for their agents and the safe houses.

No plan had ever sounded so stupid and smart at once.

The awful thing was that Dumbledore met with the agent groups privately and separately. No one but Dumbledore and those specific people would know their whereabouts. Remus couldn't help but be jealous of Lily, who had concern for her boyfriend but still supported him. Remus, on the other hand…

He knew Sirius was his friend and nothing more. But that didn't change the fact that his feelings had most certainly transformed into real _love_. He was a near basket case until Sirius and James emerged. Sirius had told him little things—"James'll be with me," or "I'm a pretty good duelist," or even "Are you kidding? I can't let them scratch this pretty face!" But none of them alleviated Remus' mood in the least bit. The only comfort was Sirius telling Remus he'd come home to him… "Yeah… I've gotta see my mates, don't I?" He'd nervously laughed at that, but Remus had not been in any kind of a laughing mood.

Now, even two weeks later, Remus was still not in a laughing mood.

"Are you going to eat this?" Peter asked, holding up a half-eaten bag of crisps.

"Er, no…go ahead, Peter." Remus removed his hands from his jumper and placed them on his kitchen table. He hated being stationary; it made him even antsier. He turned to his friend and scoffed. "How can you just eat at a time like this?"

"I just can…?" The look on Peter's face was his typical confounded expression. "You seem a little bothered…"

"No, you think?" Remus frowned and apologized when hurt flitted across his friend's countenance. "I'm sorry, Wormtail. It's just…"

"Stressful. Like when we'd pull some large prank and you didn't know if McGonagall was going to suspend us or fry us," Peter supplied. He smiled, giving Remus the impression of a mouse asking for cheese.

"Actually, you're right," Remus admitted with a small note of surprise. After all, Peter Pettigrew was the last person anyone would suspect of thinking things through or concocting serious thoughts. "They dive headlong into things and only think about the excitement, not the consequences. They often had a bad influence on you."

"I did those things 'cause I wanted to," Peter retorted as he crunched through the bag of crisps. "Besides, even Sirius could compel you to be a troublemaker every so often."

The werewolf smiled, and he hoped he didn't look like the sappy fool he felt. Sirius rather _was_ the only one who could get Remus to do anything, it seemed.

With that reassuring idea in mind, Remus left the kitchen table and walked down the short hallway to reach his bedroom. He saw the parchment and quill and ink bottle on his desk, seemingly waiting there so innocently. Surely it wouldn't hurt to send Sirius a little missive.

 _ **Tap tap**_.

The sound came from the window set high in the wall on the other side of Remus' bed. He crossed the room easily and tentatively opened it…only to have some drab owl swoop in and drop a letter on the floor. The grubby thing perched on the edge of the mattress, and Remus wished a bit that the _letter_ was on his sheets; the letter at least looked clean.

He picked it up and unfolded it. Suddenly the grim skies of his mood turned bright, vibrant blue.

_Moony, you cheeky little minx—_

Okay, Remus hadn't expected _that_ …but this _was_ Sirius, so the brunet went along with it.

_Moony, you cheeky little minx—_

_ You _ _made that, didn't you? I said to James that it was my favorite dish and he was all, "What?" And I said, "The lemon pepper chicken!" And he was all, "What chicken?" And then I gave up on him because he'd already forgotten about the dinner since he and Lily went out for a moonlit stroll that night, but anyway!_

_But really, how'd you know it was my favorite? I never went on and on about it at school and—_

There was a blot of ink half covering the "d" in "and." Obviously, Sirius' hand had stopped moving. The rest of his paragraph revealed something had clicked in his brain.

_You just_ _ knew _ _, didn't you? In that bookworm, Moony way of yours… Ah, well. I loved it, James and I love you, and we miss everyone. Two more weeks seems impossible for me. I've barely survived without your laughter at James' and my antics!_

_Don't forget to feed our pet rat._

— _Pads xoxo_

Remus couldn't believe the number of emotions he felt in under a minute. He blushed over Sirius' realization, he nearly panicked upon reading the words "barely survived," and he wanted to howl with laughter over the reference to the last fourth of their Marauders set.

One thing stood out in Remus' mind, though, and he could hear the phrase echoing in his head, omitting James' name from the sentence. Sirius' voice sounded so real to him, as though the Black son were right there beside Remus, whispering in his ear:

_I love you… I love you… I love you…_

"Me, too, Padfoot," Remus breathed under his breath. The next two weeks would be bittersweet torture until he could see those gray eyes again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8D Super cute! Non? ;) I just loved the idea immediately of "getting mail," and I ran with it. I know I was a little cruel to them, but I certainly made amends for it, didn't I? Godric—it's right in front of their faces! XD Also…right as Remus was going to write Sirius, he gets a letter. Great minds think alike, no? ;3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;D
> 
> 2017 note: AHAHA. Let the angst rear its ugly head. :P


	7. Taking a drive on a pretty road

A stereotypical autumn breeze rolled through the tiny hamlet. The leaves on the trees surrounding the houses, cottages, and small apartment complexes were beginning to turn red. All in all, everything seemed quaint and quiet, exactly as such a village should be.

A motorbike roared up the village's main road.

Sirius Black gripped the handles of his bike and leaned forward, putting a little more gas than necessary into the vehicle. But, hey, this was Sirius—it ought to be expected that he had to be showy when making his entrance.

Showy, he was…at least judging by the opening of one apartment complex's door. A male form peeked out, gawked at Sirius' approach, and ran out into the complex's yard. Sirius came to a nice sliding turn right in front of said man—well, wizard.

Remus was elated to see his friend again. After a little over a month of undercover work on the part of Sirius and James, they had returned. James had headed home straight to Lily. Sirius, though he had his own flat, had felt a bit empty over the word "home"…but then Remus' image had surfaced in his mind's eye, and he knew where to go all along.

"It's been a while since you've seen this beast, huh?" Sirius asked.

Remus smirked. "The bike, or the beast riding it?" He laughed as Sirius swatted him on the arm, but Remus smiled. He made a jerky movement, almost as though he'd move to hug Sirius, but he apparently thought better on it and remained where he was. "No, you're right, Padfoot. It _is_ good to see you again."

Sirius kicked himself inwardly for the girly, melting feeling he was getting from seeing Remus' soft yet strong smile. He shook it off and went for what he'd liked anyway and drew Remus into a quick hug. "Sheesh! Even in person, you can be a cheeky minx, Moony!"

His words had the delightful result of coloring Remus' cheeks. "Er, yes, I _did_ get that letter… You can be quite odd, Sirius."

_You don't even know the_ half _of it_ , the Animagus thought with a devilish grin. Sirius pushed those kinds of ideas from the front of his brain and extended his hand. "Let's go for a ride."

"What? A ride? Right now?"

"Yes, now. That's why I asked, Moony."

"But…"

Sirius grabbed the closer arm, and, when he was met with no resistance, he pulled Remus behind him until the werewolf relented and swung behind him on the bike. Sirius passed him his helmet. "Wear this. I don't want you getting hurt if we crash."

"What about you?"

"You've said it before, Remmy—I've got a hard head!" He tore away with a hearty guffaw, but his grin came from the feeling of Remus' arms wrapped around his midsection.

The werewolf settled behind his friend. Sirius liked the warmth as Remus turned his head and leaned his cheek against the Animagus' back. The Black son took it easy along one of the neighboring roads and eased better into a cruise as the road continued for a while without any hint of other motorists.

"Remus." Sirius glanced over his shoulder. "Remus," he called.

"What?" he responded over the bike's noise.

"…it's good to see you again."

"What?"

"I said, 'It's good to see you again.'"

Remus scrunched up his nose. "Padfoot, I can't hear—"

"ARGH! _I couldn't stop thinking of you when we were gone_!" he bellowed. Then he blinked, and he knew his face was a brighter red than Lily's hair. He did the stupid thing and took his eyes off the road for two seconds to peek at that… _wolfish_ grin on his mate's face. Sirius willed himself to stare at the road again.

Remus rested his chin on Sirius' shoulder. He moved his head out of the way of the black-haired wizard's flying tresses and let his lips hover so, _so_ near Sirius' ear. "Hey, speed up."

Sirius thought it an odd suggestion, and he disliked the feeling that Remus had just left him hanging after saying such a strange thing. But Sirius pumped up the speed of the bike until the colors on either side of them were flying by in blurs.

The werewolf moved his arms, angling one better around Sirius' waist and shifting the other up so his hand was over the Animagus' heart. For sure, he could feel that steady beat rise. He gripped Sirius tighter, and it was the best kind of embrace for which Sirius could ever ask.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter called for little dialogue in the end… I think it was sweeter that way. Oh, man, I would so go for a ride on that motorbike, even though they're ridiculously dangerous! XD *has such a Sirius love that she's loopy* ;3 I think, just for the ending, this is my fav chappie so far now… -w- *is very, Siriusly happy*
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :3
> 
> 2017 note: God Godric, Sirius. XD I like that Remus can be playful around him, though. :3c


	8. Hearing your favorite song on the wireless

It was strange. Fall had seemed to come and go as quickly as James' bad mood, when he had one. But the winter chill was pleasant, to an extent.

Remus Lupin closed his book and got up from the park bench to walk home. The crisp air was fresh and cooling, very relaxing. Remus needed it after returning from his own mission to scope out reputed werewolf dens. He'd only been gone a week, and he'd been teamed up with James, but the mission turned up no strong leads. On the bright side, they'd had little cause to worry for their own skins.

He recalled his and James' return… Lily had smacked James nicely and then snogged him in front of the Order—not something she usually did, as James was the one for dramatics. Remus had gotten some congratulations on his first "black-op," and he'd been expecting Sirius to clap him on the back and joke about how Moony wasn't such a pushover or a stick-in-the-mud.

In reality, Sirius. Had. Been. _Livid_.

He hadn't wanted Remus to get a word in edgewise. Remus knew Sirius hadn't approved of Remus getting that near to the beasts who'd made him what he was today, but the bookworm had been a little excited about finally _doing_ something in place of sitting around like a lazy bum. He now understood why Sirius and James and the others kept volunteering.

However, the point was that Sirius had been angry and had voiced his opinion to his friend. First, he'd tried intimidating Remus by stating the wolves would tear him to bits and make him suffer a death much worse than one wrought by a spell. Remus had replied that he'd survived hell and still lived it every month with the full moon. Then Sirius had tried pulling puppy-dog eyes on him and stated he'd die without Remus; Remus had remarked that that hadn't stopped _Sirius_ from doing stupid things before. Lastly, he went with kicking Remus where it hurt. Sirius had said things along the lines of "You always were the pacifist of our group" and "Whenever it came down to a fistfight, you'd hide behind your wand or a book" and even "They'll smell the wolf in you, and they'll see you as easy, fresh _meat_."

Any other time, Remus would've been truly hurt by Sirius' words. So why was he smiling as he entered the Wizarding coffee room between the park and his flat? Easy: Sirius' words showed how much he _cared_.

Yes, of course there had been other times when Sirius had showed his love (then, brotherly) for Remus, and Sirius was no stranger to concern. But Remus had never seen Sirius so passionate, so _adamant_ about Remus staying out of danger. It made Remus almost wonder if he was not alone in experiencing changed feelings…

_Nah,_ Remus told himself. He was too convinced of Sirius' playboy ways.

He sat in a window seat and paused to sip his coffee. His eyes watched people—singles, families, _couples_ —come and go outside the shop, and the sight made him smile. A nostalgic feeling welled up within Remus, one that pined for calm and quiet days of nonsense and boyhood.

To add to the atmosphere, the shopkeeper turned up his wireless, and Celestina Warbeck's voice warbled and filled the room. Remus immediately thought of Molly Weasley, who often cooed over the singer as a sort of matchmaker for her and Arthur.

"… _if your loving me means I'll sometimes make you blue, then, baby, let me Heal things with my 'I love you'…_ "

Remus hummed along with the tune. It was sweet and not as awfully mawkish as some of Molly's favorite Celestina songs. He actually found he quite liked it.

"… _c'mon, Protect me, Disarm me, make me feel—I know that you're as passionate as me… We're the real deal…_ "

All right, it was decided. This was assuredly Remus' new favorite song. Now if he could only get Sirius to hear it when they were together…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD A little odd, no? But I like Remus' logic! And thinking Sirius doesn't feel the same way—psshaw! Of course he does, Remmy! And, to think, Remus is the smart one in the Marauders. *insert eye roll here* So…yeah. Those mushy lyrics were completely made up by me. -.-; How bad is it that I even came up with a little melody for it?! Oh, how fanfics alter your life… ;] (Stupid poll: Should I give the song a title? XD)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :}
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* I still quite like Remus' line of thinking. And the little shop playing that song… I think I still remember the tune, even 6 yrs later? Or something. *debating whether I should post a small recording to tumblr* XD


	9. Lying in bed listening to the rain outside

"Sirius!"

Remus grabbed nothing with his extended arm. Slowly, he sat up in his sleeping bag, Frank and James still snoring across the other side of the small room. The werewolf paused to catch his breath; he had not realized he'd been so winded.

The worst thing was that he couldn't remember the entirety of his dream. He recalled bits and pieces—his first time on the Hogwarts Express, Sirius yanking him onto a broom and them going for a ride during flying lessons, and (perhaps most curious) Sirius in a Slytherin uniform. The last part really got him thinking, because such an idea made him think of Regulus, Sirius' brother…but Remus pushed any ideas relating to him aside, because Regulus was never talked about by the Marauders; his name was strictly taboo.

Remus got up, careful not to disturb his friends, and stood on his tiptoes to peek out the window. He frowned; it was raining outside, and there was a distinct wet fur smell being carried through the broken window seal. So they were on the right track—there were werewolves somewhere nearby.

For once, he forced himself to forget the task at hand. Remus instead pulled forth his happiest thoughts…and failed. All he could picture was that darned image of a Slytherin Sirius.

 _…which is pretty contradictory_ , he finally thought with a small chuckle. It was such a ludicrous thought, Sirius in the House of his family. He hated his family's ideals with a fiery passion, and Remus and James (okay, even Peter) had learned that well enough over the years. Sirius, though silently sad that his brother had turned into one of… _them_ , couldn't work as a functioning member of what was essentially one giant, interrelated hated group.

Remus sighed. It did him no good to think about so many Sirius-related things and not Sirius himself…especially without Sirius there.

The Marauder returned to his sleeping bag and tried to rest again. He'd need his strength and wits in the morning, as he and the others would try one last attempt at compiling a list of swayed lycanthropes. But sleep would not come to him, and he was left shivering beneath the thin fabric of the sleeping bag.

It was funny, in a way. This moment reminded him of a time when he and Sirius couldn't get to sleep. It was in sixth year, towards the end, and it was hot and humid and raining outside. Sirius had moaned and groaned, Remus had ordered him to shut up so as not to disturb their roommates, and then Sirius had retaliated by flopping on top of Remus' comforter beside him.

"It's _hoooot_ , Moony," he'd whined.

Remus had frowned, though now he thought Sirius' moody face then was cute. "Then go for a midnight walk, Padfoot," he'd suggested.

"But it's too _quiet_ in the castle right now…!"

"Then—"

"Come with me?"

"No." Remus had rolled onto his side then, away from Sirius. He had tried listening to the rain falling against the window's glass, but all he could hear was the even, barely audible sound of Sirius' breathing. Remus had tried ignoring it at the time, but now Remus knew he'd been paying his best mate some peculiar attention even back then.

"Fine," Sirius had grumbled. He'd switched to lying on his back and crossed his arms, but after several minutes without a reaction from Remus, he'd ended up spooning himself against Remus' back. Despite the awful weather conditions, he'd placed an arm around Remus' waist without hesitation. Then he'd snored.

That night, Remus had not slept a wink. He'd blamed it on the rain.

In the present, Remus rolled over on his side and pulled his cloak tightly around him. He felt a little warmer, almost as though that arm were wrapped around him once again…and with more than brotherly motive behind it. Meanwhile, the rain tapped a love song of its own on the glass…and Remus had no further nightmares.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3 *is giddy* Bawww. -w- I'll admit to a little struggle with this chappie, but that was because the idea of the cold sweat and nightmare came outta nowhere, so…yeah. There's no real meaning behind what Remus dreamed, though I suppose one could read into it…but I'd suggest you don't. Instead, picture with me the lovely image of Remmius snuggling. X3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! 8D
> 
> 2017 note: I love chapters like this, even if they're not physically together. :') I feel for them, though, in this situations…


	10. Hot towels fresh out of the dryer

Sirius sighed happily. When things were this cold outside and he wasn't out on a mission, staying inside at home was the best. Thing. Ever.

He grabbed a butterbeer from his kitchen, opened it, and flopped backwards onto his couch—all without spilling his drink on himself. He reclined, though, and released another sigh. He liked adventure a lot, but there was a curious attractiveness to safety.

_As I'm sure Remus would love to hear from my mouth,_ the Animagus thought. He allowed, for a brief moment more than he had recently, his mind to wander to all he'd been pondering these past few months. The new year was nearly here, and Sirius had not entertained any further the idea that he'd started to see Remus in a romantic light. It wasn't even that he'd seen Remus as a more effeminate character; it was that Sirius himself had started to watch over and speak to Remus in a lover's manner. Sirius only minded his attitude if it would scare Remus off…but Remus had not called him out on anything. He'd taken Sirius' complaints over Remus going into the field, and he had no problem with Sirius' touchy-feely personality—a personality Sirius felt he'd come to display more often around his best mate.

_Of course, what's wrong with that?_ Sirius mentally groaned, his lips resting on the bottle as he tried to think of the problems if they were to start… _something_. The only thing he could really think of was if he made a move and he'd read Remus wrong and it ruined their friendship.

…heh, nothing too big or bad…right?

Sirius shook his head and finished his drink. He got off the couch and went to his room and looked around the—well, it rather resembled a pigsty. He gathered strewn shirts and pants and knickers and put them in a pile. Next he gathered up his bed covers, and he ducked into his bathroom to grab the few towels he owned. Everything went into one pile, and then Sirius racked his brain for the right spell to clean up the whole mess.

He settled for Scourgify and Tergeo and a few other little enchantments, and soon the bits of fabric were flying all over the place and settling down, folded or smoothed and smelling freshly washed. The covers went back on his bed, and his clothes folded into the drawers or hung in the closet. Sirius had the towels float into his arms, and he carried them into the bathroom himself.

He hung one up and put the others away when a funny similarity struck him. The towels were soft and warm, as though they'd come out of some drying machine…but the combination of soft and warm reminded Sirius of animal fur. Specifically, werewolf fur.

It was somewhat a tactile memory. He hadn't felt that silky fur running under his fingers in so long. Since graduation, they had not been together during a full moon, though Remus assured them all that he had the proper spells and defenses set around his room when a full moon did roll around.

Sirius frowned. That wasn't right. He ought to be there with Remus, for Remus. He—

Good Godric, what was he doing here, wasting his time in his place all alone?

_Oh, right, Rem is coming back from another mission tomorrow_ , the Animagus reminded himself. He glanced down at the towel and gently smiled. He took it with him and held on to it when he fell asleep in his bed. If his sense of smell worked just imaginatively enough, he could almost smell his wolf….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm. The idea of Sirius cleaning up after himself is slightly ludicrous, isn't it? XD This chappie was partially inspired by the song "[Home and Dry](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C9o8Z_lBXPM)," by Pet Shop Boys. AWESOME. SONG. Go listen to it! X3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;3
> 
> 2017 note: D'aww. I think Sirius would learn how to adult at some point…even if only due to Remus' good influence. :P


	11. Chocolate milkshake

"The first thing I want…," Remus panted, "…is a bloody chocolate milkshake."

James nodded alongside him, and Frank gave him an encouraging smile as the three of them walked the short distance from where they'd Apparated to James' flat. "I want a shower," James piped up.

"I want to sleep in a real bed," Frank stated, and he rubbed the dark circles under his eyes for good measure.

"I still want my milkshake," the werewolf grumbled.

"When it's this cold, Remus?" Frank asked. He pointed to their surroundings. "There's even snow out, mate."

James waved him off. "Give it up, Frank. In any shape or form, he's gotta satisfy that sweet tooth of his or there'll be consequences to pay."

"What'd you mean?"

"Well, you see, once, Sirius ate his last chocolate bar kinda out of boredom and general laziness. You remember that time when McGonagall was so angry that she almost hexed those Slytherins during Transfiguration?"

"Fifth year, yeah, of course."

"Even McGonagall would've been scared of that Remus."

Frank whistled. "Wooh, boy. Gotcha."

"It'd be nice if you two stopped chatting away whilst I'm right here," Remus remarked pointedly to James as James unlocked the door to his place and they went up the stairs.

James grinned. "But isn't it better to be talked about and remembered than not talked about at all and be forgotten?"

"Good Merlin, your kind of logic will do us all in, Prongs," Remus mumbled.

"Love you, too, Moony."

Any ill will was forgotten and dropped when Lily and Alice woke up in the living room and greeted their significant others. Remus felt sorely like a third wheel, though he appreciated the girls still fawning over him, as they were all friends there. Remus wondered how Sirius was, though, as he hadn't been on call but he wasn't there with them either.

"Sorry I'm late!"

To answer Remus' internal question, Sirius burst through the door, his face red and his fringe in his eyes. He tugged his scarf off and grinned. Remus thought it a funny kind of magic that a smile from Sirius was all it took to make his mood do a one-eighty. "Never a gathering without you, Sirius," he said, unable to keep from smiling back.

"Moony!" He walked—well, sort of ran—right up to him and grabbed him. He managed to pick him up off the floor so he could give him a twirling hug, and then he set him back down. He hugged James, too, but not as enthusiastically, and he shook Frank's hand. "Well, by the looks of things, you three obviously made it."

"With the unnerving news that most of the werewolves like You-Know-Who's ideas," Frank stated as he wrapped his arms around Alice's waist for comfort.

"And those who aren't joining now are remaining neutral—in the meantime," Remus finished. "They have the right and ability to change their minds anytime, so we've got to step lightly."

James furrowed his brow. "Do you think they might alert other dens that we're going around…essentially recruiting?"

Remus shrugged. "They might. But we can't know for sure, so our job won't end. Werewolves are fickle by nature—they're with one side one moment, and the other the next. All we can be certain of is that, ultimately, they're for themselves."

An uneasy quiet settled over the six of them, only to be broken by Lily. "We should owl Dumbledore and let him know you're all back safe and sound."

"I'll come with," James said. "I've got something I want to say to him…" The couple went down the hall and disappeared, and Frank and Alice relaxed in a large chair by the window in James' living room. Remus felt awkward once more, but then Sirius led him into the kitchen, which was a separate room like the rest.

"Nothing bad happened, right?" Sirius asked as he sat Remus down at the kitchen counter and draped his cloak over his friend's shoulders.

"No, not really. We were inconspicuous where we were, and we were upwind of the wolves, so the rain-turned-snow kept our scents practically buried." He sighed and rolled his shoulders. "I was a little wound up, though, I'll admit."

In the blink of an eye, Sirius was standing behind him, rubbing his shoulders. It was a heavenly touch, and Remus was very thankful that he and Sirius managed communication without words sometimes. Remus leaned on his arms on the counter while Sirius' thumbs worked the kink out of the lycanthrope's neck.

"…thank you, Pad," Remus said, muffled, into his sleeves.

Sirius gently chuckled and leaned against Remus' back, hugging his shoulders. "It's nothing, Moony. You just look more exhausted than usual."

"I feel that way, too."

Sirius nodded against his back. "Then can I do something else for you?"

"…chocolate milkshake."

"…er, what?"

"I want a chocolate milkshake," Remus mumbled.

Sirius backed away and faced Remus, who looked up at him. "Seriously?"

"Yes." Remus furrowed his brow. "Oh, wait… You know, let me get it. If you…"

"If I, what? C'mon, Moony, even _I_ can handle a simple milkshake."

"I'm sure Prongs would appreciate it if you _didn't_ make his kitchen look as though a tornado blew through it, mate."

Sirius winked, and Remus' stomach flip-flopped again. "Remmy, just let me take care of you for once." When Remus said nothing, he rummaged through James' freezer and found a carton of chocolate ice-cream from Florean Fortescue's, and then he dug out milk from the fridge, which had been well-stocked in James' absence. Sirius grabbed a large glass and dumped the two ingredients into the cup, and then he used a spell to whip the two things together. He even found chocolate chips to put in the drink. And, truth be told, there was not a lot to clean up once he was done. He turned around and placed it in front of Remus with a straw. "There you go, Remmy."

Remus quirked one eyebrow but sipped it—and smiled like a lazy cat. It was funny how the smallest comforts in life could make everything so much better… And then Sirius swiped the glass to sip it himself.

"Hey, this _is_ pretty good," he said with another devilish grin.

"Sirius…! That's mine! Get your own!"

"Isn't it good to share, Moony?"

Remus' face reddened, as the thought of an indirect kiss via the straw came to mind. "Just give it back. Or at least get your own straw." He took the glass back and took a big gulp—and, as suggested, Sirius stuck his own straw in the glass.

"Well, good to know you aren't completely heartless, Rem," Sirius said.

Remus looked at that mischievous face and laughed. With Sirius, there was no winning. _And really_ , he thought as he sipped from one side and stared into Sirius' eyes from across the few centimeters spanning the glass, _is it such a bad thing to act like a couple like this?_

_Especially when he isn't running away?_

Remus' already red face darkened another crimson shade, but Sirius did not appear deterred by his friend's odd reactions. In fact, if Remus weren't mistaken, Sirius seemed to be enjoying them.

"Oh, and, hey, Remus?"

"Yes, Sirius?"

Sirius rested his forehead against Remus'. "Welcome home."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OMG. 8D This could've been a sweet oneshot on its own… X3 I. Love. This chapter. And the next few will be good, possibly/maybe tied to this one (well, 12 definitely is). So I can't wait to hear from you guys!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :D
> 
> 2017 note: Still one of my fav chapters. -w- It just. It's so cozy? So, funny personal note. Back in 2011, when this story came out, I had zero interest in milkshakes. Now I'm a chocolate milkshake addict. *lol* Though I like it straight ice-cream with milk, and nothing else. So yummy… -w-


	12. A bubble bath

Oh, good Godric. He was so… _tipsy_!

This could not have come at a worse time for Sirius. No, not now and, really, not ever. He was at Remus' flat, for crying out loud, and he could not lose his mind tonight! If he did, who knew what would happen…

Sirius slapped his cheeks, feeling a little better with a sting in his face than with numbness. He never should have allowed James to coerce him into having a firewhiskey in celebration of Lily's birthday. Sure, everyone had at least one, but—contrary to popular belief—Remus was the only one who could more than handle his liquor.

Sirius Black…was a _lightweight_.

He shuddered at the thought and went into Remus' bathroom, where he splashed some cold water on his face. Yeah, yeah, that was helping…oh, who was he kidding? His eyes drifted down to the sink, where Remus' toothbrush was laid out. Then his mind turned to Remus, and Sirius' feelings welled up to the surface, and, by Merlin, if Remus came and bugged him right then, Sirius was sure to blurt out those three little words that could make or break them…!

There was silence. The others had left, and Remus had suggested Sirius stay the night as he'd looked a little iffy for riding home on his bike. Of course, Remus saying _anything_ resembling "stay the night" had sent Sirius' dirty little mind into overdrive…! And, now, here he was, wishing James had dragged him out of there.

Sirius splashed more water on his face and frowned at his reflection. Merlin, if he could only keep his mind focused on platonic situations…

Remus knocked on the bathroom door. "Hey, Padfoot, you okay?"

"Hmm? Oh, yeah, yeah…"

Sirius could almost _hear_ Remus' brow furrow. "Are you sure? You seemed a little…happy a little while ago."

Sirius opened the door and waved his friend off. "Oh, nah. I was just in the celebratory mood, Remmy."

Remus stared hard at him. "…you had almost one whole firewhiskey, didn't you?"

The Animagus gulped. Sheesh, Remus had always been able to see through him, hadn't he? His shoulders drooped. "Kinda… I just need to sleep it off, I swear."

"No, take a shower or something. It'll help to clear your head, Sirius."

"Remus, trust me, I'm fine. Do you have some spare pajamas?"

The werewolf raised his eyebrows. "You're not borrowing anything of mine while you smell like that."

"Aw, c'mon, I'm not—"

Remus pushed him back into the bathroom and sat him down on the edge of the tub. He opened the cabinet behind the mirror and scanned the bottles and such he had lining the shelves. "Ah…here we are." He pulled out a round bottle of purple liquid.

Sirius scrunched up his nose. "What's that?"

"Um…some bubble bath. Try it."

Sirius fought his laughter down. If ever there was an unmanly thing to own…! He took the bottle and looked at it. "What, just draw the bath and—"

"Yeah, it's just bubble bath, Pads." Remus closed the toilet's lid and put a fresh towel on the seat. "Use this when you're done. And please don't drown, Padfoot. I can only imagine the others' faces if you died in such a stupid way as bathing."

"Or killed by drapery," Sirius scoffed. "I can manage a simple bath, Moony."

"I know," Remus said, though he was smiling good-humoredly at his friend. He closed the door behind him. "Let me know if you need anything, Sirius," he said through the barrier.

Sirius shrugged and drew the bathwater. He took another look at the bottle and decided it must be harmless if Remus had given it to him, so he poured a capful into the hot water, undressed, and sank in. It was heavenly and relaxing, and Sirius was sorely tempted just to fall asleep right then and there.

He didn't, though. He leaned against the back of the tub and draped his arms on the side ledges. A sigh escaped him, and he twirled the soaked ends of his long hair. It was almost time to trim it…

Offhandedly, he wondered if Remus would trim it for him. Sirius never did it himself; he couldn't trust his hand with a Shearing Charm while his wand was aimed at him. But Remus ought to be pretty good with something like this. Of course, that thought only served to remind Sirius that he _couldn't_ get his…his… _crush_ out of his mind.

Though he was certain this was no mere crush.

Dwelling on that idea, he found his mind began to clear, and he did gain focus…on the dynamics of his and Remus' relationship. They'd always been a peculiar case of friendship-fallen-nearly-out-of-the-sky. Sirius was rather pigheaded and stubborn and feisty; Remus was the thinker, the philosopher, and someone on whom anyone could rely. Truly, Remus was a great catch. Sirius had two things going for him: his looks and his loyalty. But Remus…

Remus was everything. Smart, brave, clever, loyal, just a little bit evil—er, _mischievous_ —those were all the things Sirius liked, no, _loved_ about him and more. There was the way Remus' voice changed when he said "Sirius" instead of "Padfoot." There were the countless times when Remus gave in and smiled at one of Sirius' better jokes or pranks. There was that adorable little crease that formed on Remus' brow when he withheld a reproach for Sirius' disquieting actions and ideas.

Sirius shook his head at himself, wondering why he had not put two-and-two together sooner. Remus surely cared for him as deeply as Sirius did for the brunet—wouldn't it be _more_ wrong of Sirius not to act and progress things?

The Animagus thought about how he'd ever say anything to Remus as he finished up. He'd drawn his pants up and was patting his hair dry when Remus knocked again.

Sirius let him in, and Remus passed him some flannel pajamas. "I hope these fit. Mum got them for me as a house-warming gift, but they're a bit big, so they should fit you fine."

"Thanks."

Remus eyed him. "Something on your mind, Sirius?"

The Black son pursed his lips. No, now was not the time to bring things up… "Yeah, what was in that bubble bath?"

Remus grinned. "It was a potion—it works as a bubble bath, but you soak in it and it draws the alcohol out of your system. Harmless and painless, and the alcohol goes down the drain."

Sirius gaped at him. "What the—how come we never had that at school?"

"Easy—I hadn't thought of it then."

Sirius wryly grinned, musing that Remus had just not offered it during their school days, as Remus was one to want others to learn from the consequences of their actions. Regardless of that one annoying personality flaw, Sirius smirked and shrugged it off. "Hey, Moony, trim my hair for me?"

"Sure, Pads." Remus grabbed the towel from Sirius' hands and hung it up. He gathered the ebony tresses with one hand and used his wand with the other, and slowly the hairs fell back against Sirius' back, freshly cut. The backs of Remus' fingers brushed Sirius' skin, but neither of them said anything. The touch was electrifying and petrifying all at once…

And, if that was just how it was when they touched, then what—Sirius wondered—would it be like if they ever kissed?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ;D A little nod to the stupid way Sirius died (the Veil), a bad smack for mew for resorting to firewhiskey in any way whatsoever, and a curious glance at said mew for a good point mew just realized: WHY are all the kinda bathroom/shower-related chappies Sirius ones? The shower one in 3, the towel one in 10, and now the bath one here in 12! And no, I wasn't even thinking pervy, fangirl fantasies! It just turned out this way… :L But I don't think Remus minds—and perhaps neither do you, good reader. ;3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;3
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* I forgot all the bathroom-related ones so far were Sirius ones. XD Anywho, man, they're so cute. My heart! X3


	13. Giggling

The werewolf had to admit—Sirius Black was the most amusing person on the entire planet. And that was saying something, considering the planet had a few billion people living on it.

"And James was _so_ sure that long hair equated to his 'Lovely Lily,' so I ended up with my hair wrapped around his closed fist in the middle of the night!" Sirius barked, though some laughter leaked into his tone, too.

Remus tried his hardest to suppress another fit of giggles at his friend's expressions and inflections. Sirius had such an absorbing way of telling a story; as hilarious as James could be, Remus doubted James could've made a funeral or the like funny. But Sirius could.

Sirius cupped his cheek in his palm, his face flushed. "Oh, stop it, you git… Just laugh already."

But Remus continued to giggle. "I'm—I'm sorry, S-Sirius…" He took a deep breath to calm himself. "It's just the picture you painted in my mind of James moving in his sleep, thinking you're Lily… Oh, dear Merlin. I hope he doesn't _really_ yank on her hair when they're together."

"OI!" Lily yelled at them across the table. "I can _hear_ you two, you know!" Her cheeks were red, and it appeared she'd spared James a few seconds of glares to glare daggers at his best mates. "That's not any particular business of yours, is it?"

Sirius grinned. "Why, Lily-white, I daresay it is, considering your boyfriend was borderline molesting _me_ on our last mission." He turned to James. "You do know you have wandering hands, right, Prongs?"

James, Lily, _and_ Remus chided him. " _SIRIUS_!"

"What?" Sirius feigned innocence. "I wasn't asking for any of that!"

"Ahem." Dumbledore cleared his throat, and all conversation died down in the Weasley household. As he'd shut them up, Molly—who was nearby with her boys—finally removed her hands from little Bill's ears and sent him upstairs to play with his brothers. "I see we are all faring well."

Frank and Alice smiled. "Some of us better than others," Frank said, and those around the table laughed good-humoredly at the Marauders and Lily.

Dumbledore smiled. "I have new posts to scout, and I'd rather not take those who just returned," he stated, changing the subject back to business.

Remus saw Sirius pout, though he couldn't understand why Sirius would want to be in danger again so soon. Remus raised his hand. "Professor, are the posts, sentries, and safe houses all we'll be doing?"

The wizened wizard's smile shifted so slightly—almost imperceptibly—that it was hard to tell if he were still smiling or trying with all his might to fight a grimace. Or worse: a look of apprehension. Whatever emotion it was, Dumbledore succumbed a bit to it, and his smile weakened to a hopeful grin. "…for now, Remus."

There were murmurs throughout the room, and Molly and Arthur and James and Lily grabbed each other's hands. Beside him, Remus felt Sirius' thigh bump his and not move away. It was no hand resting on his, but it was a little comforting to know Sirius was choosing to lean on him.

"What else do you have in mind?" Dorcas asked, her expression skeptical.

"We're operating under a cloak of civility," Mad-Eye stated with a grimace. He snorted. "Nothing's happened."

"Why does it sound as though there's an implied 'yet' at the end of your sentence?" Marlene asked indignantly, her arms crossed and her brow drawn downward in a disapproving stare.

"Because it's implied."

Dumbledore raised his hand and the interruptions stopped. "I'm afraid what Alastor has pointed out is sadly true. Voldemort and his Death Eaters showed a small amount of activity in the previous two years. And yet, all is quiet as 1979 passes. I…"

"You're concerned he's planning something big," Remus whispered, though he had the decency to blush at uncharacteristically interrupting a respected mentor.

"I do. I have concerns that Voldemort is either biding his time…or, as Remus so plainly put it, 'planning something big.'"

Now Sirius' hand went to Remus' knee and gripped it. "What does 'big' mean?" His voice sounded raspy, and Remus glanced at his mate to find his gray eyes dark and stormy. No doubt he was thinking about his younger brother running around with the Dark wizard.

"I find it best to leave speculation to those not willing to act," Dumbledore replied softly, reassuringly. "It is better that we keep tabs on known accomplices now more than ever. Which is why I opened by suggesting our previous agents take a break and others step up to the plate. So, those willing to take a post?"

Sirius' hand was the first up, and Remus lifted his hand, too. Benjy, Peter, Sturgis, and Mary volunteered, as well, and Dorcas and Marlene went, too, after Dumbledore said there was a fourth post in mind this time, one more than the usual three.

"All right, Sirius and—"

"I'll go with Sirius," Remus said, surprised at his bravery for suggesting so. He didn't know why he'd said it—all he could think was that, out of the volunteers, the only one really well-qualified enough to have Sirius' back was Remus himself. Yes. It had to be Remus.

Dumbledore smiled—knowingly?—and finished, "—Remus, you two follow me, and I'll give you the details of your mission."

Remus nodded, and Sirius gave his knee another squeeze before patting his leg and getting up. Remus followed his friend into another room after Dumbledore, but then the thought occurred to him that he'd be _alone_ with Sirius this time. Well and truly alone. Sure, Sirius had been over at his place recently, but…being out on a mission was different.

A nervous giggle welled up in his throat and slightly spilled over. Sirius raised an eyebrow, and Remus shook his head. No, Remus would need to keep his head screwed on straight.

Otherwise, everything would change.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :x A bit of a cliffie, really. And two different kinds of giggles… I wonder, if and when they succumb, who will be the first to act…? B) Well, 14 and 15 are directly tied to this chapter. And to everyone who was wondering if there would ever be advances instead of just fluff, you might have your prayers answered…
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! XD
> 
> 2017 note: Ah, yes. This chap. I recall how things develop after, but I love Remus' small bout of boldness. :') Poor Dumbly and Mad-Eye, though, back then, dealing with these young'uns. XD


	14. A good conversation

"I'll admit, this is plenty strange," Sirius said to Remus on the third night of their stay.

Remus held his hands over the fire in the room. They were in a home that looked as though it were rundown from the outside. On the inside, it was okay and magically protected—as well as Unplottable. But the place was still drafty and uncomfortable in comparison to normal, acceptable living quarters. Inwardly, Remus was grateful for that; if it had been anywhere near normal, then he might've gotten _too_ comfortable with the object of his desire…though Sirius was still charming even in the dim light of early evening.

The Animagus bit into a cracker and munched on it before continuing, "So, do you give credit to what Dumbly was saying before?"

"Of course," the werewolf replied. "Logic follows that, unless one's enemy is dead, the enemy will rise up for a surprise attack."

"Sounds like a quote from a war book to me."

Remus grinned wanly. "Maybe it is. I dunno, I've read so much about strategies and stuff that it runs together sometimes." He shivered.

Sirius paused and cast a Heating Charm on them again. "Rem, just sit near me, will you? The charm keeps wearing off."

Despite a funny flip in his stomach, Remus fulfilled his friend's request and sat down beside Sirius. Sirius opened his cloak and threw a good part of the fabric around Remus, drawing him closer. Remus ducked his head, but Sirius only took that as a sign to rest his chin on the brunet's head. Remus wondered if his heart would stop beating so fast so he could breathe again…

"I've been wondering…"

 _Oh, Godric, here it comes_ , Remus thought, thinking Sirius would finally put him on the spot about how the air between them had somehow…electrified, intensified.

"Do you think I'll come across Reg on one of these trips?"

Remus blinked, kicking himself for thinking such selfish things. "No," he said, his voice muffled. "Well, at least not yet. I can't really see You-Know-Who denying himself the satisfaction of pitting brother against brother."

He could feel the Black son's jaw tense. "Curse him… He would do that, for sure. But…I'm just not sure if Regulus would fight me."

A silent beat passed between them. "No, Sirius, you're not sure _you_ would fight _Regulus_."

The hand on his shoulder tensed and then released him, and Remus looked up at his friend. Sirius stared into the fire, his lower lip firmly caught between his teeth. Perhaps Remus' words had been too honest.

"Sirius—"

"Why?"

The question threw the werewolf. "Why what?"

Sirius turned his piercing gaze on him. "Why is it that you can just…just say those things?"

Remus frowned. "I'm sorry for offending you, Padfoot. It was just an observation—"

"No, it wasn't. And I'm not offended. Just perplexed." Sirius absentmindedly twirled his wand in his hands before placing the stick on the ground between his feet. "You say those things that I don't want to admit, things…things that I only know in my heart."

Remus gulped. He turned away and hoped the fire's cast light would hide his red face. "I—I just know you, Padfoot. James and Peter do, too."

Sirius shook his head. "But it's not _like_ that. And you're not like them."

"Sirius…maybe you should stop." Remus suddenly felt as though this drafty room were the hottest place on earth, and he did not want to be somewhere so suffocating right now.

"Remus, be honest. You—pardon the phrase—read me like an open book. I don't have to use words with you—"

"The same goes for James."

"—but it's on a different level with you." He frowned as he tried to catch Remus' eye. "Remus, you're not just my mate, you're my soulmate," he finished with a nervous laugh.

Remus' ears were on fire from hearing such a bold statement. How could he respond? Was Sirius joking, just putting a friendly twist on such serious words? Or did he have intent behind them? Whatever the motive, a pleasant warmth settled in Remus' middle, and he allowed himself to relax against Sirius again. "Maybe I am, Sirius," he chuckled.

"And you know what?"

"What?" Remus asked, his eyes watching the golden flames though he could only think of silver eyes.

"That'd make all the sense in the world to me."

This was it, possibly the make-it-or-break-it moment. Remus swallowed past the lump in his throat and furrowed his brow. Here Sirius was, being so open with him. And he trusted him…so maybe he ought to be just as brutally honest with Sirius—and with himself. "It'd make sense to me, too," Remus breathed.

Another silent beat passed between them, and Remus wondered if his words had taken things too far. But then that arm and cloak came back around him, and Sirius pulled him in even tighter than before. Tentatively, Remus hooked an arm around Sirius' waist, and the Animagus brought his free hand to his side, resting his palm on that pale hand.

If it made so much sense to them both, then perhaps this was all right. Perhaps this could work after all. Despite all the laughs and tears and pain and cheers, at the end of the day they were not just "Remus" and "Sirius" anymore.

They were "Remus and Sirius," and Remus predicted their names would always be like that from then on.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! A little implication at the end, about how Rowling always seemed to write "Remus and Sirius" or vice versa in the books—which we all know was the biggest hint in the universe! XD Now this is technically not definite, but things are truly starting to move for them. Remus and Sirius do live in complicating circumstances, and keep in mind the time period—two guys back then… It wasn't unheard of, but it wasn't the first thing on people's minds. Except now it is for two young wizards. ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! B3
> 
> 2017 note: Aww, I'm so fond of this chapter. -w- A bit heavy, considering their occupation, but—I love writing dialogue, and dialogue between them comes so naturally. *happy sigh* I WANT A HUG LIKE THAT, TOO. :')


	15. The beach

Though it was an odd change, Dumbledore's change in plans for Sirius and Remus was okay enough. At least, Sirius thought so. He glanced at Remus as the brunet watched the waves.

Sirius sighed. "Are you going to stop glowering at the ocean any time soon?"

Remus, whose lips were set in a straight line, blinked and looked back at the Animagus. "What?"

"Glowering. You were pointedly glowering at the ocean." Sirius crouched near the opening of their makeshift tent on the beach and leaned his elbows on his knees. "Just get used to it, Moony. Dumbledore changes plans all the time on people."

"I just don't like that he did this in the middle of an assignment."

"Maybe we're going to be catching someone in the act," Sirius commented grimly.

"That's not funny, Padfoot."

"I wasn't joking, Moony."

Remus looked at him, and Sirius raised his eyebrows. He watched Remus fidget and face the ocean once more. Though he was a little miffed about Remus' attitude, Sirius rather enjoyed his view. From where he was, he could clearly see Remus' strong, handsome profile made dark by the contrast of the pale gray sky. Sirius thought it cute that Remus pouted when he pondered, but he missed Remus' bright smile. He'd seen that pout quite often lately.

"Hey, Remus…"

"I'm really not in the mood, Sirius."

"Why, neither was I until you brought it up. But oughtn't we get to know each other better before _getting to know each other better_?" He grinned at the red face with which he was presented. He got up and padded across the sand until he was standing in front of his best mate. "Hey, I just wanted you to breathe and forget the impending doom for a sec."

Remus frowned and heaved a heavy sigh. "I can't, Sirius, you know that. I'm always trying to think one step ahead when I'm out like this."

"No one can think one step ahead of ol' Dumbly, Moony."

Finally, Remus chuckled. "No, I s'pose not." He dropped his gaze for a second before looking back up at Sirius. "It's already been two days since we arrived here."

"And the smell of the Atlantic is nice," Sirius stated. "Why don't we try to enjoy it?"

"Because it's still winter, Padfoot."

"Er…still." Sirius sat down beside him, bumped his hip against Remus', and smiled. "You don't want to play in the water at all?"

"Not when we've been sent here for a reason, Sirius." Remus raised his eyebrows reprovingly and waited for a retort.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "Oh, for… Remus, loosen up!" He waved his wand and brought some of the ocean water towards them, splashing the sand right by their feet.

"Hey! Quit it!"

Sirius grinned. "Not until you have some fun, mate." He shivered and removed his cloak. "Holy cow, it's freezing!"

Remus gaped at him. "Of course it's freezing—it's the end of February!"

"Oof… We better exercise or something to warm up." Sirius hopped up and stretched before dashing through the tide and returning to Remus' side. "HOLY COW, it's _REALLY_ cold!"

Remus sighed and laughed. "Oh, Sirius… You are utterly ridiculous."

Sirius narrowed his eyes at his friend. "Ridiculous, you say?"

"Yes. Completely."

"Then I suppose you'd expect me to do something like _this_!" Sirius said, shoving Remus forward into the water. He made sure Remus didn't trip and fall face first into the ice-cold tide, but he was right behind him when Remus turned around to yell at him. "Sirius!"

He laughed. "Well, would you look at that—you aren't grumpy for once!"

Remus paused. "Grumpy? I haven't been grumpy."

"Then what _would_ you say you've been?"

"Um…lost in thought?"

Sirius rolled his eyes again and shucked his shirt. He ducked under the water and popped back out. "H-H-H-Hey! This isn't s-s-s-s-so b-b-b-bad when y-y-y-you g-g-g-get used t-t-to it!"

"Sirius, you moron!"

The Animagus dove again and swam up to Remus, whom he grabbed by the waist and actually managed to lift up partially when he surfaced. Remus' expression was funny, as though he hadn't thought Sirius physically capable of such a feat. But, really, Remus wasn't that heavy at all.

"S-S-S-S-Sirius—!" Remus spluttered.

Sirius smirked as he slid Remus down in his arms. He was sure Remus' stuttering had nothing to do with the water's temperature. Either way, he enjoyed being almost nose to nose with the object of his affections. Actually, the spray from the water was making Remus' eyelashes look so long and shiny and girly… And the water was giving Remus' skin an inviting sheen… And the cold was nipping red at Remus' nose, pulling out pinks and magentas in his partly open lips…

Remus stared at him, still blushing, but he didn't move even as Sirius lowered his head. Dear Merlin, they were _so_ close now… This would be it… This would be Sirius' first taste of Moony, _his_ Moony, _his_ Remus…

Just as Sirius' face drew near enough for his intentions to be clearly outlined, Remus turned his head. "What was that?"

Sirius bit his tongue; he wanted to kill Remus for ruining that moment. That moment had been the _epitome of PERFECTION_ …!

"Sirius."

Remus' tone forced Sirius' attention elsewhere. He looked in the direction in which Remus jabbed his chin—and his skin did turn cold. He could see two figures standing maybe fifty yards away from where they were. Remus wriggled out of his grasp and got out of the water, and Sirius followed. "You did put the charms and jinxes and stuff up?"

Remus nodded. "They can't see us, I swear."

"Rem, grab your wand and get back to the tent."

They moved silently as an extra precaution, should the spells fail them in any way. Sirius grabbed his shirt and cloak and used a spell to dry them. He drew his arms through the sleeves but didn't bother buttoning up as he hastened back to the tent. Remus had his wand in his hand and was looking out around the tent.

"They're getting closer," Sirius observed.

"Mm-hmm," Remus agreed. They waited and watched for a few minutes as the two Death Eaters neared them. Sirius tensed when he recognized them as Mulciber and Rosier, their old schoolmates…and two of Regulus' compatriots.

"Those bloody…!" Sirius bit his tongue to refrain from loosing his choice words from his mouth. He felt his blood boil as his imagination ran wild at the crimes those two likely had committed with Regulus as their accomplice.

"Sirius," Remus intoned lowly. He gripped Sirius' wrist, which the Animagus had not realized had risen on its own. "Don't."

"But—"

" _Don't_. Not now." Remus gave him another look, and Sirius finally moved his line of sight to the brownish-green fabric of their tent. If not now, then when?

When would he finally be allowed to unleash his fury on those who were supposed to be his family, those who perverted the definitions of being a witch or wizard?

Mulciber and Rosier walked past without a care in the world. Remus' spells were good, as they never even looked in the Marauders' direction. Unfortunately, the two Death Eaters must have cast come kind of Silencing Charm, for neither Sirius nor Remus could hear their conversation.

"C'mon, we could follow them!" Sirius growled.

"No," Remus said. "The spells won't move with us. They set a kind of perimeter, Sirius. If we breach the perimeter, we're done for."

Sirius shook his head, and they waited for the two Dark wizards to pass. After several minutes without another sighting of Mulciber or Rosier, Remus stood.

"I guess we're in the clear—whoa!" He stumbled into Sirius as the black-haired wizard grabbed him around the waist and held him tightly to his side.

"Let's be clear on one thing."

"S-Sure," Remus stammered, his face having regained all color in about two seconds flat.

"Never do that again."

Remus looked at him, curious, but didn't comment further as Sirius tightened his grip on him and just held him. For all Sirius cared, Remus could think he'd meant hiding from Death Eaters. Remus could think it meant not pulling away from intimacy with him. Remus could even think it meant not stopping Sirius when he was out for blood.

Most importantly, for Sirius, it was all of the above.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :O Oooh… I turned a little dark there, dinnit I? B3 But I greatly enjoyed writing this one. There was the scene that I'm sure made everyone wanna bite their lips and kill Remus for—and then the scene where we had no idea if there'd be a duel or not! *le gasp!* Good thing I'd never kill anyone off. Honestly. I love these characters too much! Plus, this mostly fits in with canon, soo…yeah. Also, the bit about "family" doesn't necessarily mean just flesh-and-blood—Sirius was also thinking those who are pureblooded like him…people like Mulciber and Rosier.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :3
> 
> 2017 note: Many fun and interesting things in this chapter! But the thing that makes me laugh is my 2011 A/N and saying I wouldn't kill someone off. Yeah…no. You should see some of my Maydayverse (my overall headcanon) fics, especially those set around the Battle of Hogwarts. :P


	16. Finding a 20-pound note in your coat from last winter

It was there. On his lips, on his face, in his hair—Remus could smell, feel, and taste Sirius on him, though he had weaseled out of that opportunity.

Good Merlin, it was mid-March and still Remus was kicking himself. If only he had given in, if only Mulciber and Rosier hadn't shown up, if only he himself had closed the gap and encouraged what Remus _knew_ was going to be a kiss from Sirius…!

He shook his head and fell onto his couch. What were they doing? Playing out some cheap romance novel? Advertising for some flick that was chock-full of unresolved sexual tension?

For such a smart guy, Remus felt like a really thick idiot.

 _But… But this isn't so simple_ , he told himself as he stared at the floor. _This isn't just a change from winter to spring,_ he thought with a quick glance out the nearby window, _as it is outside. …my Godric. It really is almost spring._

Remus stood and rubbed his mouth before placing his hands on his hips. In a few months' time, they'd mark down the anniversary of their graduation from Hogwarts. Those times… They seemed as though they'd happened a lifetime ago; Remus didn't feel like a little boy anymore.

He definitely felt like a man.

But that wasn't entirely true when he considered his love for Sirius. He was still squeamish at the thought that he could feel so much for another _wizard_ , but—then again—Sirius was no other wizard. Sirius was above and beyond their contemporaries… Hell, Sirius was very nearly out of Remus' grasp.

 _Maybe I could…ah, I dunno_. He blushed as the memory of their water frolic drove him wild. He would like to have that chance again, to seize it and just admit to Sirius what he only every so often admitted to himself, that he wanted them to be _together_ , as more than Marauders, as more than friends, as more than two souls intertwined for an eternity.

Hah, yeah… Sirius calling them soulmates had never made more sense before.

Remus frowned as he opened his closet to find his cloak from their coastal mission. _Maybe I could cajole him into picking up where we left off_ , he mused mischievously. He removed the cloak from its hanger and instinctively held it up to his nose… Merlin, it smelled so wonderfully of Sirius.

He rummaged through the pockets of some of his other jackets after putting the Sirius-scented one on. _I_ could _use the excuse that he never gave me a birthday present,_ Remus pondered. It was true; no one had really been around when March arrived, and Remus had not raised any complaints about a celebration. James did enough to support him since his condition kept him from landing a job. He did not push his luck when one of his best friends did everything he could to support him.

Somewhere in his consciousness, the idea floated by that perhaps someone _else_ might support him…but the thought only made Remus blush again. _That would be a very nice birthday gift, though_ , he mused, smiling pleasantly to himself.

His hand closed around some kind of paper in a pocket, and he withdrew his hand to find a twenty-pound note. "What the—?"

Well, he hadn't expected any presents, but maybe Fate was smiling down on him. Now if only Fate could make his other wishes come true….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I just went a little goofy here. I really just wanted Remus to get the line in there about Sirius and staying with him/continuing what might have started in the previous chappie… -w- *noms Sirius* I think Remus has some competition for Sirius with me… ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;]
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Still a goofy entry, but cute nevertheless.


	17. Laughing at yourself

"Why haven't you asked me about…er, _that_ time?"

Sirius followed Remus in a good imitation of his Animagus form. Remus was carrying a box across the living room of James' apartment—well, now James _and Lily's_ apartment, as they were finally moving in together.

" _Remmmmyyyyy_ …!"

Remus pinched the bridge of his nose in exasperation, but his face was red from more than the physical exertion. "Sirius, this is really not the time or the place to discuss—"

"Remus, is there any good time to discuss the fact that I almost snogged you?"

The expression on the werewolf's face was priceless, but Sirius steeled himself to keep things serious and meaningful. "Can't you just help bring those boxes over here?"

"You expect me to play fetch?"

"Well, you're no good at rolling over and getting out of the way."

"I'm young—I can learn new tricks."

"Then shall I go with, 'Sit'? Because you're too energetic, too antsy…you're making _me_ antsy!"

"Am I? Or are you wagging your tail at the possibility of what I have to say?" Sirius grinned at his last pun; that one was pretty good!

"Keep pushing, and you'll find yourself in the doghouse," Remus replied with a smirk.

 _Why do I get the feeling that that's not such a bad place to be when you say it?_ the Animagus thought. He shook the feeling and peeked inside the nearest box. "Come on, Moony. Lily's got a lot of stuff, and we've a lot to talk about. Our talk comes first, I'd think."

Remus pursed his lips. "Our talk is heavier than Lily's boxes," he intoned quietly.

Sirius twisted his mouth around and watched Remus eye the clock on their friends' mantle. With Remus acting this stubborn, Sirius felt he'd grow old before he'd really have the chance to get in a proper swoon and snog.

"It's turned awfully quiet in here," James joked when he and Lily entered the room. Yet again, Peter was absent. These days the Marauders seem to consist of the three blokes there and Lily; Peter purportedly had better things to do.

"Is everything all right?" Lily asked. Her grin from James' arms around her waist faded as her eyes darted between Sirius and Remus.

"Fine," Remus stated, and he gave the couple a grin. "Padfoot was just helping me."

"Yes, I'm so good at being helpful and _not_ being stubborn," Sirius supplied with a pointed look in Remus' direction.

James snorted. " _You_ , not stubborn? And I'm in love with Snape."

Lily gave her love a look. "I, uh, would hope not, James. That'd make things a little difficult for us, don't you think?"

Sirius laughed openly at their teasing and shook his head. "No, no, it's all right, guys."

"So, Sirius, do you see yourself ever settling down like us?" Lily asked him, picking up a throw and folding it over an upholstered chair near the fireplace in the living room.

James snorted again, before laughing. "Lils, are you joking? Sirius is our notorious playboy—this handsome devil will continue breaking witches' hearts until the end of time!" He looked at his best mate. "Though it _would_ be nice to see you in a home setting, mate. It might do you some good."

"Yeah…," Sirius acquiesced, his eyes glancing very briefly to Remus, "I'd like that home setting, too, I think."

"Even Wormtail seems to be enjoying a good life," James said. "Godric, that bloke is all over the place! I think he's hiding a girl from us."

"It could've happened," Remus agreed, walking away from Sirius. "Peter might not be the best-looking wizard around, but he has a few redeeming qualities."

"Being able to snarf a whole turkey in two bites doesn't count," James and Sirius chirped, which made Lily titter.

Remus rolled his eyes. "Come off it, guys… Peter's quieter than you two and nicer in some respects. And better at flattering witches."

"It's true. I'd take Peter's 'Nice dress' any day over James' 'I'll go skin every Death Eater for you,'" Lily said with a quirked eyebrow. Beside her, James let a nervous chuckle escape him as his cheeks reddened.

"Well, in any event, I think we're good for today." James looked around the room. "Remus, Sirius, thanks for the help."

The friends mumbled their welcomes. "So is that a subtle hint to split?" Sirius teased.

James grinned. "You read my mind, Padfoot."

"Anytime, Prongs."

Lily held her head. "Good Merlin…what am I getting myself into…?"

The wizards laughed, but Remus reassured her. "James isn't all that bad, Lily, once you get past the 'toe-rag' qualities." She blushed at the derogatory term she'd once used to describe James.

Remus and Sirius did leave, though, and, after Remus had closed the door behind him, his smile was replaced by a frown.

"Don't even think of resuming our previous conversation," he stated, but it was said as more of a request.

Sirius followed his mate down the stairs. "Remus, I'm just trying to be the mature adult you are. Something happened between us—"

"No, nothing did!"

"Well, I wish it had!" Sirius jogged to keep right behind Remus. One step below him, Remus stopped short, forcing Sirius almost to trip on the previous step so as not to stumble into the brunet.

"I do, too, Sirius—"

Sirius' heart lightened so much it flew into his throat. He gaped at Remus.

"—but this is so new, so strange… I'm fine with it, yet I'm uneasy…" He turned to him and dropped his gaze to a button on Sirius' shirt. "Don't you feel like that at all?"

Sirius swallowed and gave himself a moment's thought. "Well, no, not really…"

Remus sighed.

"But that doesn't mean I don't like my feelings. You know me, Remus—when I feel something strongly, I really feel it." Sirius gingerly touched Remus' chin and tilted his head up. "Hey, you're no passing whim, mate."

Remus bit his lower lip, an action Sirius thought cute and very Remus of him, but the werewolf nodded. He stepped back and onto the landing. "And, Sirius…"

"Hmm?"

"I want you to know…you have that home setting not just with your fellow Marauders."

"I know, I know, I have plenty of people who love me…"

"No," Remus said, catching Sirius' arm as he walked past him. "No, your home is—is with me."

Sirius stared at him, completely flabbergasted. Then he laughed at himself, for it had been months and months ago when—upon return from a mission—he'd thought the same exact thing of Remus.

Yes, great minds thought alike. Apparently so did great hearts.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, some bickering on their parts, but I feel as though the next 10—yes, TEN—chapters are going to move a lot faster. Who knows if those three little words will come out just as easily as the boys' comments about home, but I have these next 10 planned fairly well, so enjoy the fluff! Something good's about to happen soon…!
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :D
> 
> 2017 note: One of my fav things about this old fic is the stuff going on in the background, whether Remus and Sirius pay much attention to them or not—like Peter, how Jily is progressing, the war in general… And Remus being stubborn. Cutie. He just makes Sirius' heart skip a beat. c:


	18. Looking into their eyes and knowing they love you

As eloquent as he could be, Remus had a hard time with the word "love."

Even when he was little, "love" was only something he really said around his parents. Even once he established such firm friendships with Sirius, James, and Peter, "love" did not enter the equation verbally on Remus' part. James and Sirius threw the term around constantly, but they, too, had a good home and strong popularity with the public, respectively. But Remus had always been the odd one out. And it appeared that had not changed, even eight years later.

Lily tied her hair back and frowned. "James better come back without a missing eyebrow this time," she grumbled, referencing a prior mission where James had Splinched his left eyebrow during Disapparition.

Remus shrugged, half listening. He was still wondering how Lily could just say "I love you, come back safe and sound" so easily every time James signed up for a mission. Yes, Lily had gone on several missions herself and it'd been James' turn to return the affection, but those two operated in a whole other world not just from the Order but from even the rest of the non-magical world.

Remus wished he could be so blasé about Sirius disembarking once again. Especially with how he had left things hanging between them once more. Just saying Remus was Sirius' home was certainly not enough to express what really flowed between them. Really, Remus wasn't even sure if either of them _could_ truly and well express what was between them…

He fidgeted at the table in Marlene's large flat, eyeing the door to the room through which James and Sirius had followed Dumbledore. Honestly, Remus knew that, if Dumbledore allowed it, Sirius would be on _every_ mission… Thank Merlin Dumbledore was not so spell-happy as Remus' two friends.

It felt like forever before the three wizards emerged and Dumbledore adjourned the meeting. Lily and James sat at one end of Marlene's dining room table, conversing quietly. Several of the other Order members milled about, but Dumbledore, Mad-Eye, and Hagrid left together, and the Weasleys and Prewetts left not long after them. Remus waited for Sirius to sit down next to him.

Remus sat forward, his brow drawn down in concern. "You were gone a while, Pads."

Sirius' face was cast in half a shadow as Marlene turned off one of the nearby lights. He brushed his long locks back and tried to summon a grin, but it was halfhearted. "Yeah…"

"Sirius, what's with you? You're unusually quiet."

His cleared his throat. "He…wants us nearby."

Remus' face brightened. "What? That's great, Padfoot! This has been so strenuous for you, but now—"

"James and I are keeping an eye on the Malfoys."

Remus' blood turned to ice. That was the last thing he'd expected to hear. "But…they…"

"Dumbledore has his suspicions that Voldy rests there occasionally. Merlin, they might even be conducting their _own_ meetings there…!" Sirius cursed and shook his head. "I knew Malfoy was plenty bad, and Bellatrix I would certainly accuse of being one of _his_ followers, but I honestly thought Narcissa had more brain cells in that blonde head of hers…"

Remus pursed his lips. "Well, we don't know anything for sure. And you know Lucius Malfoy—that—that self-righteous prat isn't of any use. He likes keeping himself and his home well-groomed and that's about it."

"Moony, don't try to sugarcoat things. Malfoy looked on while other students were bullied and harmed."

Remus' shoulders sagged. "How… How long will you be gone?"

"…a month."

" _What_? A _month_?" Remus stared at him, incredulity quite plain on his scarred face. He shoved Sirius' arm. "How can he expect you to—"

"It won't be that bad, Moony. I don't think anything would occur around the pristine area of Malfoy Manor."

"But still…" Remus shook his head. He stared into Sirius' gray eyes and _hated_ that his sentiments were caught in his throat. His worry had never been so strong for Sirius before. The idea that Sirius possibly was going to be neighbors with the lions' den tore at him. His worry was immense, and, though he could not quite vocalize his concern, Remus bit the bullet and grabbed Sirius' nearest hand and entwined their fingers. He gave the hand a squeeze and leaned on that arm.

Though Sirius' mood didn't change much, he leaned his cheek on top of Remus' head. They remained liked that for a little while, until Remus looked up at Sirius with his frown.

"Sirius…"

The Animagus stared at him, his gray eyes a potpourri of emotions. Remus' own concern was mirrored in those orbs, but there was wonder, anger, uncertainty, and anticipation there, as well. Also, though, was one thing that Remus was sure pulsed in both their ears, a kind of haunting echo in the unquiet room:

 _Me, too_.

Remus leaned his cheek back on Sirius' shoulder, not caring what the others made of the scene if they looked their way. Because "Me, too" was merely in response to words carved on Remus' heart:

_I love you more than life itself._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aww… :3 Sad, but sweet. Comforting, really. We all need someone to tell us they love us at the end of the day. Even if they don't explicitly say it, it's got to be understood! And the next several chapters are going to whizz by, you'll wonder why they ever worried about Malfoy Manor! …though, I'll admit, I'd make Lucius my honey, too. -w- Sorry! I love him! XD
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;]
> 
> 2017 note: Aww, my boys. :') Scary times really make you face everything, don't they, though? :O


	19. Midnight phone calls that last for hours

Perhaps this could make things all right, make things tolerable. After all, even if they couldn't be together, hearing one another's voice was the next best thing.

Remus smiled at the face in the fire. "We've got to stop meeting like this, Padfoot."

"Why, I've no idea what you mean, Moony," replied Sirius through the flames. "Besides, I did the proper charms. This is a secure line. And you're at your place, so I _know_ that's secure."

"Oh, Merlin…" Remus shook his head and chuckled.

"So, what titillating thoughts do you care to entertain me with tonight, mate?"

"Hmm… An idea of what things will be like when we nab You-Know-Who. Lily and James married."

"Dear lord. James' _kids_."

"They'll be Lily's, too."

"Yeah, but they'll still be Prongs', Moony." Sirius shuddered. "And I thought James' and my duo was bad. Let's hope they don't have twins or triplets."

"Nah, not twins. Molly and Arthur have their twins. As young as they are, that's bad enough."

Sirius laughed, albeit quietly. "Shyeah, remind me never to get on their bad side." They quieted for a brief moment. "Hey, Remmy?"

"Yeah?"

"What's the sky like tonight?"

"No windows?"

"No windows where we are. And I'm currently being entertained with James' opera-level snoring."

Remus smiled. "Well, there are plenty of stars out tonight. It's a clear sky…the full moon's a while off. I think…"

"Yeah?"

"…I can even make out the Dog Star."

Sirius smirked. "I would've preferred, 'I think I'd like to _make out with_ the Dog Star. Or you could just say 'Sirius.'"

Remus laughed. "Sirius, just return safely for me, okay?"

"Of course I will. It's a promise. And I've never broken a promise with you."

"Uh, remember when you promised to study for your Transfiguration O.W.L. on your own? You and James ended up crammed into book stacks right up until the exam."

"Er, right… Well, any _real_ promises."

Remus nodded. "You're right."

Sirius paused. "What…would you say about our future after this…this war?"

The werewolf leaned on his elbows. "I'd say…we'll be James and Lily's babysitters."

"The ones who put the kids to bed early just to shag on the couch?"

" _Sirius_!"

Sirius laughed. "Joking, joking! …okay, well—"

"Please just stop right there," Remus said, shaking his head.

"I'd still like to imagine we're together in the future."

"Well, of course we'll all be together, Sirius. This is _us_ we're talking about."

"I meant the other 'us.'"

Remus twisted his mouth around and gazed into the fire. Though he saw brown eyes in the embers, he knew those gray eyes were as silver and liquid as ever. "We'll…roll with it. See how it goes."

"See if we work, you mean."

"Really, Pads."

"All right." Sirius paused again. "Is the sky really clear enough to see the Dog Star?"

"I see him bright and clear. He's all I can see."

"Well, that's good."

"It is. Though the sun will be up soon. You need your rest, Sirius."

"Don't you, Remus?"

"…I can live with a few extra minutes of conversation."

"Yeah, I'm not tired either."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :D I love this! It's so light and airy and calm between them… And I love the idea of using the fireplace to communicate like this. If Dumbly knew, he'd probably chide them since James and Sirius are technically undercover…but he'd love to see their love flourish, too! X3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;]
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Talk about clever use of a communication tactic we saw them use in canon. :P But I love them, and I love them dreaming like this… -w-


	20. Running through sprinklers

_Finally_ , summer was nearly upon them.

Sirius cracked his neck and happily sighed as the knot that had been there disappeared. He knew it was from the odd way he had slept last night, but he'd never really gotten a good night's sleep last month on the stakeout at the Malfoys'. Part of that was Remus' fault (of course), with their nighttime chats. Part of it had come from Sirius' tightly wound nerves from being so unsure as to whether he and James would end up involved in any struggles or duels…

He hated running blind. Running blind seemed to be what Dumbledore did best—and so far that had always worked for him.

But now he was going somewhere without any sort of blinders on: He was heading to Remus'.

When Sirius got there, he knocked and waited. Remus didn't answer, but Sirius didn't mind waiting. For Remus, he'd wait for an eternity…

Thirty seconds later, he'd given up on eternity and was willing to call the Order to send out a search party.

Rarely did Remus leave his home and Sirius was unaware. In these dangerous and secretive times, Sirius felt as though they needed to try and be rocks for each other. Going out without telling Sirius was not Sirius' idea of Remus being strong and sturdy for him.

Sirius looked around to check the area and then he Apparated to James and Lily's apartment. He landed under the cover of the shade of the giant tree nearby, and he went around to the back of the building where he heard sounds.

"Not too hot or too cold—the perfect time for this!"

" _JAMES_!"

The Animagus blinked. Were James and Lily really in their swimsuits…? Well, yeah, it was May, and it had rained yesterday so today was kinda humid, but… Sirius snapped out of his stupor when he saw another figure in swimming trunks, reading a book.

" _MOONY_!" Sirius' face grew hot; his exclamation of Remus' nickname had been in a very similar tone to that of Lily's in chiding James.

Remus looked up and smiled. "Hey, Padfoot, how are you—"

Sirius stomped over to him and grabbed the book right out of his hands. "What the— What were you thinking? I had no idea where you were!"

"What? You didn't—oh. You'd probably left by the time James' owl delivered my note about hanging out with him and Lily today. Even Peter's here."

Sirius looked behind him to find not two but _three_ pairs of eyes staring at him with muddled curiosity quite evident. His cheeks burned a bright, hotter red. "Oh."

Remus shook his head. "You freaked out when no one answered at my place, didn't you?"

"I, er…"

"You didn't harm the door or anything, right?"

"No, no, 'course not…"

"Good. 'Cause the last time you did that, it took me ages to fix the door."

Sirius made a mental note to leave before Remus to fix the door himself.

Remus sighed and took his tome back. "Now will you do us all the favor of relaxing? You're always telling me to loosen up, Pads. Put on your swimsuit. Dip in the tiny inflatable pool James thought was the coolest thing ever."

"Hey, Muggles make some awesome things!" their best mate stated. Lily rolled her eyes and muttered something about how the pool was nothing new to her.

Sirius took a few breaths to calm himself and had James let him into their place so he could change. When he returned outside, Remus was—shock!—out in the sun and setting up some device with Lily. Peter and James watched them in awe.

"Speaking of awesome things," James said to his mate, "Lily got us this thing called a winkler—"

"Sprinkler," Lily corrected.

"—sprinkler, and it shoots water out in all directions without magic or anything. The water comes from that hose from the building."

Sirius was taken aback when Lily and Remus turned it on. It spat water out at them and then waved back like a fan. Just the same, it returned for another attack and fanned away from them.

…okay, even Sirius had to agree with James that it was pretty cool.

Though somewhere in the back of someone's mind the reminder came up that they were all adults, nothing about propriety or the doom and gloom of recent times or duty could impinge upon this wonderful opportunity. Relaxing at home or with friends had nothing on enjoying himself in a silly way, Sirius thought, and it was only sweetened by the fact that—this time—he and Remus were in warmer water.

At some point designated lunch or dinner or the dusky time in between, Lily and James went inside to make something resembling a meal for their friends. Peter had fallen asleep in the sun, and Sirius had laughed as Remus futilely moved an umbrella over Peter, for he was already fairly sunburned.

And then…there were two (a number which Sirius had come to like quite strongly all these past months).

Remus sat back in the blue lawn chair and stretched out his legs. "These are the kind of lazy, dog days of summer that I wish we could have every year," he said, his voice slightly wistful.

Sirius sat on the ground beside Remus' legs. "I'd like that, too… Time with my mates…" He looked up at Remus. "Time with you."

Remus smiled and looked only a bit funny at Sirius' affectionate words. "Yes, time with you alone, Sirius. It could be…nice."

"As it was a while ago," Sirius ventured. He raised his eyebrows at Remus, who sighed.

"You've always been impatient, Padfoot."

"I've always been adamant about whatever my feelings are, Moony."

The werewolf got up and turned the sprinkler back on. "Aren't I allowed to come to terms with my own feelings yet?"

Sirius chased him through the cascading droplets, a wolf's grin on his face to match Remus' sheep-large eyes. "No," he teasingly replied. He grabbed Remus' slender, girly wrist and was determined not to let Remus slip through his fingers.

Remus tugged, but the sprinkler washed over them again. His wrist came out of Sirius' grasp, but the Animagus merely flailed in an effort to try and catch him again. This resulted in the two of them crashing to the ground.

"Owwww," Sirius groaned. Oh, yes, he definitely had another crick in his neck…

Remus sat up. "Sirius! Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'll be fine…"

"Sirius…"

He drew Remus down to him and held him, Remus' head resting on his chest. "This makes the ache feel better."

Remus smiled against his skin. "…I'm glad."

The sprinkler hit them with more water…but Remus was not going to slither out of Sirius' reach again anytime soon. Sirius would make sure of that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the direction this is taking things. The last paragraph… *lol* Funnily enough, I think my favorite part was James and the sprinkler. Gotta love James, no? ;3 But Pete getting sunburned was funny, too… XD
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! X3
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* Nah, while the "winkler" part was funny, Sirius holding on to Remus is deffo the best part here. -w-


	21. Laughing for absolutely no reason at all

Often, Sirius thought that, if life threw him pumpkins, he'd make pumpkin juice. Well, today there'd be no pumpkin juice.

"Congrats!" James said, grinning at Frank and Alice. "I had no doubt you two would be the first in our year to get engaged."

Sirius leaned back in his chair as the other Order members cooed and all that happy junk over Frank and Alice's announcement. The Animagus was happy for his friends, of course, but he would've rather chosen _another_ time to be happy. First off, Dumbledore hadn't said anything about any new missions. And, secondly, Sirius had his own troubles trying to start a real romance with Remus. Did he _have_ to hear about someone else's luck right now?

Frank and Alice did see him through the throng of people and smiled, and Sirius smiled back with a little wave. As soon as they were distracted once more, he sighed and cupped his cheek in his palm. This was probably going to be the longest. Meeting. Ever.

The chair beside him scratched the floor as Remus pulled it out to sit. "Do you have a stomachache? You don't look too well, Pads."

"Argh, I'm just…" Sirius heaved another sigh and crossed his arms on the table. He rested his head on them. "I guess I'm just itching to do something, I dunno."

Remus gave him a small smile. "Sirius, your impulsivity is going to be returned to you in karma."

"My whatsit is gonna what?"

"Oh, never mind. Enjoy your nap, Padfoot."

Sirius grinned. "Nap with me, Moony."

Remus rolled his eyes as Dumbledore appeared and the others settled down. "Oh, for the love of Godric… At least try not to snore, mate."

Sirius mumbled that he wouldn't, but he really couldn't. Dumbledore blathered on about this and that, so it was hard to close his eyes and just wait for the opportunity to volunteer for another op, but it was just as hard to _focus_ on what the old geezer was saying; Dumbledore's words were kind of running together tonight in Sirius' mind. Some fifteen minutes or so later, Sirius zeroed in on Dumbledore's words, though: "…given their time, so thank you. Now if James and Lily could follow me."

The Black son snapped his head up, startling Remus, who was putting his jacket on. "What the—? Wait, what happened?"

"Professor Dumbledore chose our latest teams." Remus furrowed his brow. "Weren't you listening?"

"I—I was, but—" Sirius frowned, confused. "How did I miss that?"

The werewolf shrugged. "Regardless, James and Lily are going to be out. Marlene and Dorcas volunteered, too, and Moody and Hagrid are taking Benjy and Sturgis with them."

"Why's that?"

"If you ask me," the brunet said quietly, "I wonder if Dumbledore is going to try and implore the other giants to help." Remus bit his bottom lip. "That'll never happen, though."

Sirius grimaced at the table and stood. "How do you figure this stuff anyway?"

"I've my connections," Remus teased, winking.

The Animagus paused for a brief moment. Sometimes he _did_ wonder how Remus could figure and guess so much and be right…but, then again, Sirius trusted Remus since he'd always been the smart one, so he shrugged it off. "So where does that leave us?"

"Hmm…your place?"

Sirius did a double-take. " _WHAT_?"

Remus blinked at him, certainly not catching the possible innuendo. "You and I are anchors this time around, at your place. Why, what's wrong?"

The gray-eyed wizard shook his head as he followed Remus outside. "No, nothing, nothing… Just, uh…hmm."

"Isn't it great? Frank and Alice… It makes me wonder why James and Lily haven't— Sirius, are you even listening?"

Sirius loosed a great guffaw. "Huh, what? Oh, of course I am, mate!"

"Then why are you laughing for no reason? I didn't say anything funny…" Remus eyed him warily.

Sirius only grinned as they Apparated to his flat. He opened the door and closed it, and he thought maybe he _would_ have pumpkin juice after all…

After all, he and Remus were together. Alone together. At his place.

_Thank you, dear Merlin and Godric, for all the pumpkin juice in the world._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8D Okay, I'd say this is the weirdest chapter so far. Yup. Very. I was listening to so many different songs while I worked on this instead of on my term paper or other major project (shyeah, thanks a lot, guys *lol*), that this chapter was kinda my, "What shall I do to them?" chapter. And suddenly…bleargh. I'm now listening to a Remus/Tonks Wrock song—ruined the moment much, Tonksy? *lol* I understand this was a little cliffie, too, but…just trust me. A few more chapters and you'll die and go to heaven…or wherever the hell it is behind the Veil. ;]
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;3
> 
> 2017 note: Sometimes I feel like Sirius, just zoning out. :P Also, in my 2011 A/N—I honestly, for the life of me, cannot recall what that "other major project" was? Unless that was also a school-related thing…hmm. :x


	22. Having someone tell you that you're beautiful

_Why didn't I realize this sooner?_ Remus thought. He rolled onto his other side, but all he could hear was the loud breathing—it wasn't quite snoring—in the room across the hall.

Remus squinted his eyes so tightly they shut, but his hearing was focused on that sound. That sound was so distinctively Sirius, so impossibly Sirius, so _fortunately_ Sirius—

 _—that_ _I haven't been able to sleep a wink,_ Remus thought. He rubbed his tired eyes and threw the blanket off; it was getting too hot in the year anyway to use blankets right now. He sat up in bed and saw the early morning sunlight peeking out from under the window's closed blinds. In the middle of the night, Remus had woken up from his deep sleep when the realization had hit him abruptly that here he was, _alone_ with Sirius, at _Sirius'_ apartment, with no impending, untimely responsibilities or inhibitions around…save for Remus' qualms with his own feelings, though he was starting to doubt they made for a very good excuse anymore.

He fidgeted on the edge of the bed, and his stomach did that funny flip it often did these days when he even so much as _heard_ Sirius' name. Remus closed his eyes, took a deep breath, opened his eyes, and exited the guestroom.

There. There it was. Sirius' room…with Sirius inside, of course.

 _And yet you never had any problems about sitting on his bed, chatting the night away or even sleeping in the same bed back at school,_ Remus' conscience taunted.

 _But that was back when Sirius was just a lazy slob of a mate,_ Remus retorted. _Now Sirius is that adorable, handsome best friend of mine who has been making…ugh,_ googly _eyes at me for nearly a year—and I_ like _those googly gray eyes._

_…sap._

_Shut up._

Remus took another deep breath and pushed on the white-painted door, which had been cracked open already (and, no, not by Remus). He blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the darkness, as Sirius' room didn't have a window, and no low lights were on. But the light came in from the hallway and fell across the floor and onto the sleeping form of Sirius. His chest, uncovered by the thin sheet that only draped across his lower half, moved up and down slowly, peacefully, and his face showed a few twitches suggesting his dreams were calm. Remus felt horrible for wanting to disturb such a sweet sight, so he turned to leave.

"Mmm…Moony…?"

The werewolf looked over his shoulder. "'Morning, Padfoot."

"Hey, why're you leaving…?" He began to sit up.

"Oh, don't get up on my behalf, Sirius. I just wanted to see if you were awake yet."

"Does half-awake count?"

Remus chuckled with Sirius. "You looked pretty tired, so I thought I'd just leave you be."

Sirius looked at him. "Remus, come here."

"Sirius, just go back—"

"Remus," Sirius repeated, and his gray eyes were dark, dazed, and dreamy when Remus met them. "Come here."

Face hot, the werewolf padded quietly across the carpet, though he left the door cracked open. He stood at Sirius' side before Sirius patted the bed, motioning for him to sit down. Remus complied, making Sirius grin.

"Sleep well, Moony?"

"Um…yeah…"

"I couldn't, not really."

Remus turned and stared back at Sirius. It was quite plain on the Animagus' face that Sirius knew Remus had fibbed. "Um, er…stiff bed give you a stiff back?"

Sirius twisted his mouth around. "A little. It's a different feeling from all the floors and stuff I've slept on for so long."

"Yes, well, it goes to show you that you can't go on _every_ mission."

"I…wouldn't want to go on _every_ mission." Sirius paused before venturing: "I'd miss moments like these." He drifted his fingers across the top of Remus' closest hand until Remus relented and flipped it. Sirius linked their fingers together, and the warm feeling was amazing, humming with a kind of lovely power. Sirius' smile grew.

Remus frowned at his own hand, though. "How come… How come you've never been disgusted with my scars?" he asked.

"What?" Sirius knit his brows together in confusion. "Why would I?"

"Because of what I am…because of…what I become."

To Remus' surprise, his friend laughed. "Remmy, you oughta know by now that I'm not scared of you, in either form."

"But—"

"Remus." Sirius gently tugged on the hand he had and brought Remus to lie down beside him, and he snuggled against Remus' back. "I couldn't ever be 'disgusted' by you or your scars. I actually think the scars give you character."

Remus snorted good-humoredly. "You _would_ say that…"

"But, Moony, really…you're _beautiful_. You really are. To me," Sirius breathed against Remus' hair. Sirius held him so gently yet tightly…but Remus wasn't going to leave.

The werewolf's cheeks burned a deep crimson, but he relished the warmth at his back. He held on to the arms that wrapped around him, and he loved how Sirius tucked his nose into his neck. Though Remus knew it was morning, he didn't see the point of getting up at all. His world…was right there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> X3 This was SUCH a great scene to write! And, please, let's ghost over the use of the word "stiff" twice in one bed-related sentence. ;D
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! XDDD
> 
> 2017 note: GAH. Damn cuties. Sirius, when he's really honest, is so romantic, so easily. I'd swoon, too, Rem, I'd swoon, too. :3c


	23. Laughing at an inside joke with friends

For once, it was the boys and just the boys. The good ol' days seemed to be alive and well again. The Marauders were back.

"Okay… _that_ bloke could really use a pantsing," Sirius whistled as he and his mates watched through the window of a coffee shop on the edge of Diagon Alley. Some wizard in violently orange robes was walking by, looking like a complete prat. Oh, yeah. He surely needed to be pranked.

James laughed, and Sirius was glad to see Remus and Peter were smiling thinking of familiar memories, too. True, Remus had been the do-gooder of their little gang, but Sirius knew Remus had always found some bit of their antics amusing. At least some of _Sirius'_ antics were. No doubt about that.

"Wait, what about that dork?" Peter asked. His eyes crinkled as he grinned at a passing fool, and his face had never looked paler. Though the rest of the Marauders were glad to have him back, none of them could quite get past pondering where exactly Peter had been all this time. None of them had heard from him, even…but here he was, and he was well. Sirius assumed that counted for _something_.

James squinted. "I'd say stick him in a broom closet for the afternoon, see if he adopts the brooms' fashion sense."

The table erupted in more laughter, and Sirius barely managed to see that tears were brimming in Remus' eyes, too. Sirius shook his head to get rid of his laughter faster and calm down. "It kinda stinks."

"What does?" Remus asked. He sipped at his coffee, though he was still smiling.

Sirius gestured to the four of them. "This. Missing this. We can't really do much of what we used to."

"Well, we don't really have the time for it, Pads," James said apologetically.

"No, not for those reasons. I mean, we might be arrested now if we got away with the murder we committed in school."

Remus quirked an eyebrow. "Erm, Padfoot, not the best choice of words right now." He jutted his chin out to the rest of the coffee shop, and Sirius met some wary gazes.

"Oh. Er…right, heh." Sirius scratched his head and dropped his eyes down to the half-eaten croissant on his plate. "Still, though. We—"

"—grew up," Peter finished for him. Despite his paleness making him look a tad ill, Peter had no problem finishing the sweets on his plate and offering to finish Sirius' food for him.

James and Remus nodded, whilst Sirius frowned. "Though I don't very much like the current circumstances, I'm plenty happy with growing up," James said.

"That's a mature thing of you to say, Prongs," Remus commented.

"But it's true. Honestly, I know I've longed for Lily for years—"

"Don't _we_ know it," the other three chimed.

James grinned but continued, "I know I've loved her for so long and I finally convinced her in seventh year to try me out, but…you guys should know me better than anyone. It shouldn't come as a surprise that even _I_ want to grow up, to have a family."

"It's natural for any of us to want that," the werewolf said. "We're at that age where we're dreaming of our futures, especially in the short term, all things considered. I mean, look at Molly and Arthur. They're not that much older than us and already they have five children."

"And I don't think they're going to stop any time soon," Sirius said with a devilish grin as Remus rolled his eyes.

"So you want a family, too? Like the Weasleys?" Peter asked.

Remus cheeks were tinged pink. "Um, something like that."

"Wait, wait, wait," James said. He held up a hand to Remus, who sat beside him. "How can you only want 'something like that'?"

"Obviously none of us are going to be you and Lily," Remus quipped.

"Don't avoid the question, Moony. What did you mean? You don't want kids? You don't want marriage? You just want a lifetime girlfriend? You just want a hermit's life?"

"Okay, the hermit jab was a little much, Prongs."

Sirius, who was across from Remus, leaned forward with his elbows on the edge of the tiny table. "No, I agree with Prongs. What kind of life do you want, Remmy?" Sirius knew that using that nickname would earn him a glare, but he'd never gotten Remus actually to say anything definite in that sweet Floo call of theirs a while ago, when Sirius and James had been near the Malfoys'.

The brunet wizard sighed. "I want a life with someone who loves me. With someone who can handle being loved back. I want not the white-picket fence but the house with enough room to spread out yet too little room to escape the love of my life…because I wouldn't want to escape hi—her," Remus hastily finished, catching himself at the last second. Sirius knew he'd been about to say "him," though, and his insides warmed at the slip-up.

"What about the dog?" Sirius said with a winning smile.

"Of course. He'd be a mutt, though."

Sirius' eye twitched, and he restrained from calling Remus a twit on the spot. He picked at his croissant as James whistled.

"Impressive, Moony. I shouldn't have doubted someone like you. Of course you'd have it all planned." James' words were directed towards Remus…yet he turned to look at Sirius for a long while, a bright, knowing grin painted on his face.

Sirius feigned innocence, but he doubted James bought it. James had surely picked up on how the air changed when Sirius and Remus spoke, which made Sirius envious. He couldn't always sense it himself when he and Remus were alone. The fact irked the Black son.

"I'd like to live next to the Bertie Bott's factory," Peter interjected, and any hints of tension dispersed as the table erupted in laughter once more.

"I know what I'd like," Sirius said. He saw Remus' eyes focus on his face…but he wasn't going to be as forthcoming as his counterpart.

"The Playboy mansion?" James snorted.

"Meh. I was thinking I'd like just to stay where I am. It's big enough for two people anyway." Sirius shrugged and hid his smile, wondering what thought might be suddenly plaguing Remus' mind. "But I think I'd like a new bathroom."

"Why's that?"

"So I don't turn all grimy like any Snivellus we know. At least I'm not afraid of bathing."

Once more, the laughter from the Marauders' table was the best and loudest. Some other patrons left, some smiled upon seeing them, but they weren't booted out for their noisiness. And why should they be? The aura at that table was magnetic and happy. It was _right_. And it meant the Marauders were back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :3 Ooh, did someone just ask the object of his affections to move in with him? B3 Nooooooo comment! ;D *evil cackle* I love what Remus said, though—so sweet. X3 It makes me giddy, knowing what's coming in 24. Which reminds me: The original "45 things that make you feel good" list is awesome…but FLAWED. There was no number 24! So, I made up my own and I can only hope you guys like it. :D
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;D
> 
> 2017 note: *lol* I like these simple Marauder moments in the story. And James. James knows much more than Remmius thinks. XD


	24. Borrowed clothes from a friend that fit

"I actually like Professor Dumbledore's idea for once," Remus said in the dusky light.

Sirius nodded. He pushed his hair away from his face as the wind played with it. Tonight the Order was dining outside at Hagrid's hut on Hogwarts' grounds. Dumbledore had shocked them by telling them there was no official meeting tonight. "I'd rather we all rest and catch up. A tired mind does not do well when faced with hardship," he'd said.

"Maybe things are almost over…" Remus clasped his hands and leaned his elbows on his knees as they sat outside, looking to Sirius. "Maybe this will pass, and things will return to normal."

Sirius raised his eyebrows. "And McGonagall will be a sweet person from here on out."

"Okay, point taken. So I'm being optimistic."

The Black son shook his head. "No, there's nothing wrong with that, Remus. I wish it were that easy." He smiled at his friend and ruffled Remus' hair. Remus' disgruntled face was cute, too, and Sirius laughed.

Remus stood. "Do you want me to get you some more food?"

"Nah, I think I'm good for tonight. I don't have much of an appetite." He paused. "Though I could go for another butterbeer."

The werewolf smiled. "I'll go get us some."

Sirius watched Remus walk away. He couldn't believe after all this time that Remus could taunt him every now and then and still resist him. He hoped Remus was wearing down finally, because by now Remus _had_ to have come to terms with the emotions Sirius had seen not merely flitting across his face. No, Remus' heart was on that long sleeve of his, and Sirius could find it even with his eyes closed.

Thinking of shirts, Sirius shivered slightly. They were well into summer now, but nights around Hogwarts had often been chilly, and tonight was no exception. _I should've worn another layer, like Moony_ , he grumbled inwardly as Remus returned. Remus was wearing a t-shirt with a long-sleeved button-up over it, the buttons undone. So he was warm enough, yet some of his scars were covered.

Remus passed him the drink and clanked their bottles together. "To an uneventful rest of '79," he said softly. There was that twinkle in his eyes again that made Sirius want to blurt out his feelings and simultaneously snog him.

" _OH, MY MERLIN! JAMES THADDEUS POTTER JUST PROPOSED TO ME!_ "

The two Marauders jumped at the sound of Lily's echoing announcement, and not only did Sirius spill all of his drink down his front, but Remus spilled his own on Sirius as well. Lily came rushing over—sporting a new gold band centered with a small but lovely diamond—with a chagrined James in tow and paused.

"Sirius, why're you drenched?"

"Because apparently James' middle name is 'Thaddeus.'"

Lily had the decency to blush. "Oops." She side-glanced at her love, whose face was Expelliarmus red. "Um, I'm happy, though, James."

"You at least said 'yes,' so that makes up for a lot," he said through gritted teeth, but his best mates could tell he truly was beaming at being another step closer to his dream of the perfect life with the love of his life.

"Sooo… James _Thaddeus_ Potter, is it?" came Marlene's voice. Some of the others appeared, too, and James groaned.

"This is my cue to leave," Sirius said, grinning. "I've loads of puns and jokes to think of."

As Sirius got up, Remus said his goodbyes and followed him in the direction of Hogsmeade. "Hey, wait up."

"Why aren't you staying?"

Remus shrugged out of his second shirt and passed it to Sirius. "Sorry about that, mate. I didn't mean to spill my butterbeer on you."

Sirius blinked and took the shirt. It… It smelled of Remus. Sirius shook himself to get rid of those thoughts. "No, it's fine, Moony."

"Sirius…"

The gray-eyed wizard stripped his shirt right there on the path and slipped Remus' shirt on, buttoning just a few of the middle buttons. He loved the way Remus' face could still show so red even at night. "Thanks, Remus."

"W-W-Well, of c-course," Remus spluttered. "James is a little b-brawny compared to us, cause of his Quidditch days." The brunet looked away from Sirius and walked a little faster ahead of him.

"Rem, wait up," Sirius called. He jogged a little and yanked on the back belt loop of Remus' denims. He snaked his arm around Remus' waist and slowed their pace. "You know what that means?"

Remus groaned.

Sirius' smile grew. "We fit perfectly together, Rem."

"Perfect," Remus said with an eye roll…but he leaned into Sirius' embrace anyway.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well. That was nummy. Yes, I really just wanted to get Sirius' shirt off—er, that sounds pretty bad, doesn't it? XD But I don't care! I love him as much as Remus does! :DDD Anywho, I also like the name Thaddeus. So blame me, James. Though it had a nice ring to it…just as Lily Evans Potter does. ;) Three cheers for James Thaddeus Potter! (And it sounds Potter-y, doesn't it? *lol*)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! 8D
> 
> 2017 note: My only comment, 6 yrs later, is that I still love giving James the middle name Thaddeus. It became part of my overall headcanon. XD (Though I think once I wrote it as Tiberius? Kudos if you know the reference. ;P)


	25. Accidentally overhearing someone say something nice about you

"Wait here. I've got some chocolate in the kitchen."

Remus exited his living room and kept an ear out for the sounds in the living room. Though Peter couldn't make it, James, Lily, and Sirius had joined him for a small celebration for James and Lily's engagement. It had to be small, sadly enough, since their schedules for the Order could only converge and give them time off together today, but Remus was glad they had any time at all. Only last week, three Order members had had a close call; no one had been killed…but they hadn't heard back from Benjy.

"He's as good as dead," Mad-Eye had grumbled at a meeting. Though no one had wanted to hear that, no one had had the guts to yell at Mad-Eye about it.

The werewolf shook his head clear of those thoughts and focused on the sound of laughter. It sounded as though only James and Lily were laughing. Remus carefully searched his cupboards so he could hear their words.

"So, Sirius…," Lily drawled. Remus knew that tone of voice. Lily often had a sly look on her face when she used that tone. Inwardly, he groaned at what would next come out of her mouth. "I've noticed how, ahem, _cozy_ you and Remus have looked lately."

Sirius obviously had been drinking his gillywater, for Remus could hear the wizard spit out his drink. Luckily the noise covered the crash of Remus dropping a small dish. "Beg pardon?" Sirius said, though Remus knew Sirius had no idea how delicately to handle this confrontation.

"You've been putting the moves on him," Lily elaborated.

Another spit sounded. " _Beg pardon_?" That was James.

Remus could almost _hear_ Lily roll her eyes. "Oh, James, don't pretend you hadn't wondered."

A moment of silence passed. "…no, I had. Just a little."

Sirius cursed. "Thanks a lot, you two. I thought we were here to celebrate _you_ guys getting hitched."

"We are. But while one couple seals the deal, another couple's bound to emerge." Lily probably was staring Sirius down now, wanting him to say something.

Sirius didn't. A tapping sound appeared, and Remus knew Sirius was drumming his fingers on the rim of his glass. However, as much as Remus wanted to save Sirius then, he also didn't want to be put on the hot seat right there with him. _At least_ , the brunet thought, _not yet._

James sighed. "Lils, give him a break. It's probably been Sirius anyway."

"Hey!" the Black son whined. Remus smiled and stifled his laughter.

"Well, you're a strong personality, Padfoot."

"So? Remus—" He stopped. "Haha, very funny. Clever, trying to get me to confirm something."

"Did it work?" Lily pushed.

"Nope."

James leaned back on the couch, judging by how it creaked. "You know, Padfoot, it's all right with me if there's something between you and Moony—ow! What was that for, Lily? You didn't have to jab your elbow into—"

"What James means is we're rooting for you," Lily finished. Remus smiled and felt as though they could've melted chocolate on his face, his cheeks were so warm.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Sirius said, and Remus knew he was trying to wave them off.

Lily huffed. "James was right, Sirius. It's fine if you guys are romantically involved. Actually, you two…well, you two look cute together."

"Exactly what a guy wants to hear, Lily."

"Shut up, James. I mean, you look _right_ together," she corrected. "And no one ought to stand in your way. And I'm telling you we wouldn't, either."

A few minutes passed without talk, and it occurred to Remus that he probably should return with that chocolate by now. Also, he made some movements in the kitchen; the others might've wondered why it was so quiet in the other room.

"…you sound like Dumbledore," Sirius griped. Judging by his voice, he was not going to fight what was sure to be a triumphant grin on the redheaded witch's face. He paused. "So…Remus and me, huh? And you two…"

"Yes, us two," James said. "Ha! Maybe Moony can be Lily's maid-of-honor!"

They laughed, and Remus rolled his eyes. "I don't think frills are really Remus' thing," Lily added.

"I wouldn't mind escorting him down the aisle. … Oh, good Merlin, I did _not_ mean to sound that mawkish!"

James laughed again, and Lily tried not to giggle. "It's all right, Paddy. Moony is the housewife type, anyway!"

Remus rolled his eyes again, shook his head, grabbed the nearest hunk of chocolate, and entered his living room with his sweetest smile. "Did I miss anything?"

Lily beamed at him and James laughed, but Sirius' red cheeks were priceless as he sat beside him—a little closer than usual—passed out the chocolate, and conjured up a shot each of firewhiskey.

The werewolf raised his glass, his free hand covertly resting on the small of Sirius' back. "To young love."

His friends gave a "hear, hear," and they all knocked back one shot. Sirius immediately shut himself up with a block of chocolate, but Remus didn't mind that Sirius was quiet then. After all, Remus needed a moment to organize his thoughts. Yes, definitely… He and Sirius definitely needed to have another mission together, and soon. Very soon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for my absence, but my art is done and awesome and now I'm back to writing, despite a hectic schedule! :D And *nommm*. I love how Lily and James were intervening. I think James has rubbed off on Lily, actually, *lol*. And to think, the BEST chapters are NEXT…! Please review the next two chappies, thanks! ;}
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! ;]
> 
> 2017 note: AH. I remember now! I was working on my AP Art portfolio around the time I began this fic. XD Gods, that was a drain (but at least I got a good grade and cinched uni credit, so there ;P). I, like Remus, do kind of like to eavesdrop…I'm just glad he got to hear some very nice things. -w-


	26. Waking up and realizing you still have a few hours left to sleep

Sirius blinked the sleep dust from his eyes and opened them. He saw nothing but darkness. Curious, he blinked a few more times before he sat up. The room looked dark, with no light flooding in from under the door. Sirius patted the area to his left and grasped his wand, summoning a light to use to look at the clock in the room. _Ah. It's only seven-thirty._ He breathed a sigh of relief. Dumbledore had requested that he and Remus be up at no later than nine-thirty, so they were still good.

The Black son glanced at his friend beside him and smiled. Remus was still sound asleep, one arm tucked under his head like a pillow. It would probably still be a while yet before Remus awoke.

 _He needs to rest up anyway,_ Sirius thought as he crossed his legs and leaned back in the bedroom of the vacated townhouse in which Dumbledore had posted them. _Remus has been too much of a worrywart lately…_ Sirius blinked. _Oh, crap… Is—Is that because of_ me _? Have I been putting pressure on him?_

 _Has he been worried about how to turn me_ down _?_

Sirius drummed his fingers softly on his leg as he frowned and stared at the dark, far wall. He wondered if that had even occurred to him yet, that Remus had been awfully nice not because he was feeling the same way but because he…he was just _nice_. Sirius had seen Remus turn girls down before—Mary and Dorcas, to name a few—and he always tried to be as good as possible, as chivalric as possible… The gray-eyed wizard gritted his teeth involuntarily. He didn't need chivalry; he just needed Remus.

Remus sighed and rolled onto his back. Soon enough, his eyes were open, too. "Sirius…?"

"I'm right here, Rem."

"Good." Remus paused, moved as though he were going to sit up, and then rolled onto his left side, latching on to Sirius' arm. "What time is it?" he asked, his breath tickling Sirius' wrist.

Sirius smiled. "You can go back to sleep, Moony. We've got some time."

"Nah, I'm awake, I'm awake." He sighed groggily and lazily got up, but all he could do was lean back and lean on Sirius' shoulder. "This mission…"

"Yeah, I've no idea what Dumbly's planning either."

"But…it's nice. The two of us. Quiet. No worries."

"Yeah, none, not really."

Remus laid his cheek on Sirius' shoulder. "…you've got bony shoulders, Pads."

"Maybe you've just got a pudgy face."

"Shut up."

"I'm just kidding, kidding… I like your baby face."

Remus looked up at him, and Sirius found it hard not to laugh. His eyes shone in the wand's light. "I do _not_ have a baby face."

"Remmy, I'm telling you you're cute. Just take the compliment."

The look on the wolf's face was amusing, one half of annoyance and half of modesty. "Just…keep an ear out for Dumbledore's notice."

"I know, I know… Hey, he said _maybe_ there'd be something for us to do." Sirius drew a knee up to his chest and rested the elbow of his wand arm on it. "That doesn't mean we _will_ be doing anything, but that doesn't mean I'm slacking off."

Remus nodded. "I know that." He looked around the room. "So what do we do? We've, what, a couple of hours?"

Sirius coughed. "Well, _I_ can think of a few things…"

"No jumping me, Sirius."

"Damn." Sirius winked. "We might as well think of gifts for Lily and James. Oh, and what lovely speech I'm going to make as James' best man."

Remus laughed. "I can just picture it now—you pass them a broom for their first kid and bring up that one time when James tried on Lily's school skirt and—"

"Okay, let's stop right there. Even _I'm_ not that cruel, Moony."

"No," Remus said with a soft, happy sigh, "you're not." He rested his cheek against Sirius' shoulder once more and hugged his arm to him, and Sirius internally kicked himself for ever thinking that _this_ was just Remus being "nice."

"But it'll be weird," Sirius ventured. "Them, married and off doing their own thing…"

"We've had this conversation before, Padfoot."

"Yes, but you were more against _us_ before."

"And what makes you think I'm complying _now_?"

"No one is forcing you to be that cuddly with me."

"Yes, well, what if I'm chilly?"

"It's summertime, Rem. _I'm_ the only thing giving you the shivers," Sirius added, and he chuckled and leaned his cheek on the top of Remus' head. "Ahh… I think we should go back to sleep, just for a little while."

Remus nodded. He briefly turned his face upwards, wanting to say something, but he remained quiet, and Sirius wished Remus had at least pecked his cheek. But, hey, snuggling like this was fine, just fine…

It did not seem like that much later when Sirius was blinking sleep dust from his eyes again, though. This time, darkness didn't greet him as a quiet companion. Instead, he blinked the sleep dust from his eyes and then continued to blink painfully in the sudden bright light. He jostled Remus awake. "Remus. Remus!"

"Hmm, what?" Remus was totally alert upon seeing the light. "Oh, it's Professor Dumbledore."

The ball of silver light expanded into the shape of a phoenix, and the friends exchanged a nervous look. Then the bird emitted Dumbledore's voice: " _Remus, Sirius, you are to head out at once. At the corner of Horshire and Colmney is a disturbance. The others are handling their own fights, so you will have no backup. You are to stay out of sight unless absolutely necessary, but manage the situation._ " The phoenix faded, along with it Dumbledore's urgent tone, and Sirius shot up out of bed and threw his cloak on over his slept-in clothes.

"Godric… You don't think…?"

"Oh, yeah, this definitely sounds messy." Sirius grimaced as he and Remus quickly secured the townhouse and slipped out of the neighborhood without much trouble.

"Horshire and Colmney—we passed that junction when scouting out the area three days ago," Remus muttered to Sirius. "It's up five blocks ahead, eleven o'clock."

Sirius' eyes darted to that exact spot, and he hastened, Remus right behind him. As they neared the end of the road that became Horshire, Sirius could hear screams ahead of him. His pulse quickened, and fear didn't restrict but rather pushed him forward. He and Remus turned onto Colmney and squatted behind a postal box. Sirius craned his neck around, but all he saw were three black-clad figures. They were wearing Death Eater masks.

Remus turned the postal box to stone, just in case a spell came their way. "I'll Confound them," he suggested. He squinted. "You'll need to separate the burly one's grip on that apothecary, though."

"Blast or Split?"

"Split. A Blast might harm the apothecary and—no, Merlin—!" Remus shook his head. "They have the apothecary's wife on the sidewalk!" he hissed.

Sirius narrowed his eyes. "Right. Crucio, it is."

" _No_ , Sirius! That's what they're doing to her! Don't sink to their level."

The Black son gritted his teeth. As much as he loved his friends and companions, there were sometimes that he really hated being one of the good guys. Sirius begrudgingly nodded, and Remus waved his wand. Sirius didn't wait for any confirmation before he mumbled, " _Diffindo_!"

And he understood _why_ Remus hadn't confirmed Sirius to make his move, because the tallest Death Eater had noticed and deflected Remus' Confundus Charm. And Sirius' Splitting Spell and only further aggravated him.

Sirius cursed loudly as he and Remus came out from behind their haven and began casting curses and hexes as quickly as possible. They'd been made, so there was no use in continuing to hide. Only now they had to think on their feet and _still_ help the victims. One of Sirius' spells knocked off the tallest Death Eater's mask, and the Black son gave a dark laugh. "Dolohov. Go figure!"

Antonin Dolohov sneered and sent some mysterious jinx Sirius' way. "Ah, yes… The older Black brother," he commented—a little too loudly, Sirius noted. He discarded his observation as paranoia as he rolled on the ground to duck a Severing Charm.

"Aren't you done torturing the small fish?" Sirius taunted.

Dolohov smiled, and Sirius felt slimy just from looking at that smarmy face. "Then I shall torture the big fish."

"Sirius!" Remus called. The other two Death Eaters had been firing incantations at him, too, though the burly one was now facing him, having passed their hostage to the smallest of the three.

Sirius hopped up and ran to Remus' side. "Can you hold your own against him, or do you wanna switch?"

Remus frowned. "I think I'll be fine. You've got my back, right?"

Sirius found it in himself to grin. "I've got your front, too, if you'd like."

"Padfoot…!"

Sirius nodded; he knew Remus knew this was how he could show how serious he was. Besides, his actions definitely showed that when he deflected two jinxes from Remus' opponent. Then he returned to Dolohov. "Aren't you done with this hobby, Dolohov, of murdering innocents? Isn't it about time you move on to organizing tea parties and family reunions? Though I s'pose your only family these days consists of trolls like yourself."

Dolohov snarled and came very close to striking Sirius' neck, but the gray-eyed wizard tripped—a fortunate mistake. "Then have some tea with your brother, Black!"

The color drained from Sirius' face as his eyes found that small figure on their own and saw past the Death Eater mask. Sirius remained frozen for one dire moment, paying no mind to the flash of light that came from that figure's wand and flew at him.

It was _him_. Sirius was looking into the cold, cold eyes of his brother…

" _Regulus…_?" he whispered.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 8D Not too bad for a kind of action scene, no? ;3 You WILL love the next chapter, even though ch28 will be pretty sad. So…yeah. Go read now. But review first.
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! 83
> 
> 2017 note: Ah, yes. Drama. *dun, dun, DUN* XD I think I've gotten better at writing duels since then, tho. :P


	27. Your first kiss

Pain tore through Sirius, and Remus could read the expression on his best mate's face—Sirius' left arm felt as though it were on fire. The searing pain was obviously close to blinding for him, and he dropped to his knees, both from the spell's effects and from the shock.

_Regulus had just attacked his brother._

Remus ripped his eyes from Sirius—even though he didn't want to—and focused on the battle. By now the burly Death Eater had revealed himself, too: It was Augustus Rookwood. Dolohov, Rookwood, Regulus—if Remus didn't get them out of there fast enough, he and Sirius would be goners.

His brown eyes flew to the apothecary and his wife. If they left, the victims would be the goners, instead. The werewolf did his best not to think about how unfair Dumbledore's orders seemed sometimes. And he did not allow time for him to kick himself about volunteering him and Sirius for this mission. They couldn't work together; Remus was too worried for Sirius, for his _love_ …

Remus wanted to scream. _Why couldn't Voldemort just be dead already_?

Thankfully, some of his worry faded when Sirius returned to the fight with renewed vigor, singling out Regulus. Sirius fought Dolohov, as well, but it was almost as though Dolohov were an easy, second thought. Sirius' true opponent was Regulus, but he was moving slower than before.

"Sirius, your arm—" Remus deflected one of Rookwood's hexes, knocking the Death Eater off his feet. Remus chanced a moment with his friend. "Sirius, are you all right?"

"I'll be fine, Remus," Sirius spat. His gray eyes had hardened, and they looked cold…they looked like Regulus', Remus felt. "I'll be better once I settle things with Regulus."

"No, you can't! He's still your brother!" Remus grew panicky once again as Rookwood stirred. He bit his tongue and left Sirius' side. "Come with me," he said to the apothecary and his wife. They latched on to him, and he Apparated them to the townhouse. Once there, he shut them in the living room of the townhouse and ordered, "Don't leave, don't let anyone in. We're here to help you, but I'll be right back." The man and his wife were too paralyzed with fright to fight him, so Remus turned on the spot and Disapparated.

He returned in time to see Sirius take another hit, and a scream welled up within his chest. "Ah," Sirius coughed, "there you are."

Remus ran to his side and viciously swung a Hives Hex and a Horn Tongue Hex at Dolohov. " _Impedimenta_!" he yelled at Rookwood, and his anger was so strong that it came through in his spell, knocking Rookwood off his feet one more time and blowing him back down to the other end of the street. Then Remus met Regulus' gaze.

Regulus said nothing, but, when Remus next blinked, another flash of light was coming at him and Sirius, and it hit Sirius in his left arm again.

Fury and fear drove Remus now. " _INCARCEROUS_!" he bellowed, and Regulus was restricted to the nearest light pole by the ropes that appeared from Remus' spell. With the three Dark wizards occupied, Remus Disapparated him and Sirius out of there. It was a relief to see the street's scenery fade.

But it was a terror to see Sirius hurt.

"Sirius, Sirius, Sirius…!" Remus hugged him to him as they landed in the bedroom. Remus sniffled and jumped up, searching their supplies for gauze and medical items. At the same time, he tried a few healing spells, but every time Remus glanced at the long gash on Sirius' arm, his heart would plummet to his stomach. If they had come out of their fight like this, then what were the other Order members facing…?

Ultimately, Sirius' groans bolstered Remus' frenetic actions, and Remus soaked up the blood and mended the broken bones. He caught his breath as his focus shifted to mending Sirius' muscles and skin, but his heart was still racing in his chest.

"Sirius…"

"…hey…"

Remus' heart skipped a beat when he saw that Sirius' eyes were that warm silver again. "Oh, Godric—! _Sirius_ …!"

Sirius mustered a small grin. "Hey, now… Who made you cry, Moony? Lemme go beat them up…"

"You tried that already. And you were hurt." Remus shook his head, and he could now feel the tears running down his cheeks. He simultaneously hated feeling so weak and loved that Sirius was still alive. "I—I didn't know…," he choked.

"C'mon, Moony. I always get out by the skin of my teeth." Sirius struggled to sit up, but he did so anyway. He cupped one of Remus' cheeks in his palm. "Moony… Remmy… _Remus_." He tilted Remus' brown eyes up to meet his.

Those eyes… _Those eyes…_ Remus bit his lip. He'd nearly lost those lovely gray eyes just now, and he was still worrying? But…Remus couldn't help it. "I—" He choked on his words. "I couldn't think of life without you, Sirius. I couldn't think of what I would do if _you had died_."

Sirius rested his forehead against his, and Remus hiccupped, fighting another sob. "We've spent the summer getting nowhere…" He drummed his fingers softly, soothingly, up and down Remus' arms, as though he were playing a piano with vulnerable, brand new ivory keys; the calming effect slowly took a hold of the werewolf. "We've spent the summer getting nowhere," he repeated, "and _now_ you say the most romantic thing ever."

Remus—somehow—chuckled. "Oh, Merlin… _Sirius_." He let Sirius tip his head up a little more, and he didn't mind when Sirius touched their noses, nudging Remus' face slightly left. Sirius' thumb was calloused and rough on Remus' chin as he pulled a bit, parting Remus' lips. Remus felt the tear tracks on his face dry before Sirius' breath, and they mingled breaths once, twice, three times before Sirius' eyes roved over Remus' face, drinking in every last detail, seeking out permission, before Sirius finally pressed his lips against Remus' and they kissed, softly, so softly. It was so sweet that Remus could feel a new batch of tears skitter down his cheeks. "Y-Your lips are ch-chapped…," he breathed.

"Yeah, well, yours are salty. So stop crying already." Sirius smiled the sweetest smile Remus had ever received from him. "I'm not that bad a kisser, Rem."

Remus nodded before losing himself in another melding of their spirits. Sirius cupped his head near his neck, moving his fingers slowly through his soft hair. Remus clutched the front of Sirius' shirt, afraid if he let go that he'd never see Sirius again. Vaguely, the thought hit Remus that they would still need to fix the apothecary's and his wife's memories and see them safely home and do some damage control, but that could be done later.

Right now, it was more important to rejoice in life…and in _love_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I understand this could've been longer, but I'm happy with it as is, considering the happenings. But now their door is officially open, so let us get through a little more angst before returning to light and airy settings. Thank you. -w-
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :}
> 
> 2017 note: Ah, yes. It finally happened. 27 chapters in, and it finally happened. XD I recall some of my friends giving me lip about it at the time, but whatevs. ;P The pacing, IMO, works.


	28. Making new friends or spending time with old ones

It was that time of year again, autumn. Yes, _autumn_. Sirius shivered as he dwelled on a newfound belief; he would only call this season "autumn," never again "fall." Summer had just ended, but so much more had ended, as well. Some…

Some had fallen.

So, no, this wasn't fall. It was autumn.

Sirius brushed his hair out of his face, thinking back to a few weeks ago, when several big battles had happened. His arm was completely healed by now, thanks to Remus' loving care. _And love_ , a voice reminded him. He briefly smiled at that, but then the image of his brother's face floated back to the forefront of his mind. Sirius wondered if that was the last time he would ever see Regulus…

"The others are starting to leave," Remus pointed out, jostling Sirius from his thoughts. The werewolf gave his love a sympathetic smile. "Do you want to stay a little while longer?"

Sirius pursed his lips. In the back of his brain, he recalled Dumbledore's—or were they Mad-Eye's? Everything jumbled together these days—words, that Benjy had reappeared only in time to be killed, little pieces of him left behind… Caradoc had disappeared completely during his own fight… Dorcas! Dorcas, Dorcas, Dorcas… She had been murdered personally by Voldemort. Grimly, Sirius thought it a kind of morbid honor, to have the Dark Lord come after you himself.

The Black son looked around him and Remus. As Remus had said, those who were members of the Order of the Phoenix were dispersing. Sirius watched as Dumbledore stood a little off to the side of the service. A woman with the same blonde hair as Dorcas marched right up to him and _slapped_ him. A man with her—whom Sirius now guessed was Mr. Meadowes, making the woman Mrs. Meadowes—gave Dumbledore his apologies and followed his wife back to the closed casket.

Sirius turned away from the sight. "No, I don't want to stay."

As they walked away, their attention was caught by another's sobs, and the two wizards watched James walk Lily away. James nodded to them, but he didn't come over and say anything. Nothing much could be said right now, anyway.

Sirius blindly groped for Remus' hand, and, when he found it, he laced their fingers for…for _some_ kind of security, some kind of assurance that not everything was flimsy and bound to disappear with his back turned. "Let's go home."

Remus nodded and pecked Sirius' temple, not asking if they were heading to his place or Sirius'. As long as they had the other, they always had home. Always.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, I think I'm done with depressing chappies for now. Dx But I had to get through some canon things… There will be some more trouble ahead, but there are plenty of happy moments, too. I think you will especially enjoy 31. ;]
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :D
> 
> 2017 note: Egads. This chapter still makes me incredibly sad.


	29. Playing with a new puppy

Remus sighed and pulled the cover up over his head. The last thing he wanted to do was get out of bed when he was still so tired. He and Sirius had stayed up late last night… _enjoying_ their newfound time as a couple, as adults were wont to do. Yes, it was a curious idea to entertain, them being adults, but that was very much the case.

 _After all, this is Sirius' bed I'm in,_ Remus thought. A giddy smile rose to his lips, and he drew the covers around him more tightly. The scent of Sirius, of _them_ was everywhere. It was amazing to find such a snippet of normalcy in these dire times.

Then came the low whine.

Remus threw the covers off and rolled over. The snout of a black dog rested on the edge of the bed and poked Remus in the arm. The werewolf propped himself up on one elbow, resting his cheek in the palm of his hand as he locked eyes with the dog. Of course this was Sirius, but new thoughts were popping into Remus' head. He'd never really considered before the effort that Sirius, James, and Peter had taken for him when they had learned to become Animagi. But, also, this wasn't just a big black dog anymore; this wasn't just his friend cavorting in another form for when his own other personality would emerge.

This was now the alternate face of his lover.

Remus pulled a face, finding his thoughts came up with some strange ideas at that sentence, but he felt better when he patted the top of Sirius' head. Sirius opened his mouth and began to pant contently, and Remus could've sworn he saw that trademark grin of Sirius', even in canine form.

"Now, don't go slobbering all over me," the brunet wizard teased. Sirius, of course, strained his neck and licked Remus' cheek, and Remus laughed.

Sirius placed his front paws on the edge of the bed and nuzzled his head in the crook of Remus' neck. He was being very affectionate and a little playful, almost as though he _did_ want to be treated like a dog today.

"What, you want a treat? You want to go for a walk?"

A low, annoyed growl came from the back of Sirius' throat, and Remus laughed once more.

"Just playing along, Padfoot."

Sirius snorted, his hot breath blowing Remus' fringe from his eyes. He bared his teeth and walked away from Remus—and then Sirius shook his behind at him!

"Why, you—!" Remus jumped out of bed and raced after Sirius, even though it was kind of ludicrous for him to chase after the agile beast. However, Sirius slid on the rug in his hallway and Remus came right up behind him and managed to hug his arms around Sirius' furry torso and lift the dog up. "Gotcha!"

Well, that was the moment when Sirius decided to shift back into his human form. One second, Remus had a tight hold of doggy Sirius—the next, Sirius the human had Remus drawn to him by the waist and was lifting the werewolf up off the ground by a few centimeters. Sirius held his love there and snogged him, ignoring Remus' struggles.

"Agh! Oh, _ickk_ , Sirius! Agh…" Remus wiped his mouth. "Not only are you slobbery when you change back, but—oh, Godric, I don't know where that tongue's been!"

Sirius smirked as he placed Remus back on the ground but refused to release him. "Oh, Remmy… Unless someone Obliviated last night's memories, you know _exactly_ where this slobbery mouth has been."

Remus thwacked him upside the head. " _SIT_ , boy!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> XD Ridiculously fluffy, drabbly…and naughty. Sirius really pushes the limits of my rating! Naughty, nummy Sirius. ;3 Fun things ahead in the next chapter, and then we'll have a little more ridiculous fluff in 31. X3
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :3
> 
> 2017 note: *LOL* Really cute, with an Inuyasha reference for ya. :P And rating? What rating? XD But, nah, they did it. ;P


	30. Having someone play with your hair

"No way! You, too?"

Sirius raised his eyebrows as the conversation in the Weasley household turned once more to babies. It was November, and this Order "meeting" felt more like a catching-up session. Lily and James had already told Sirius, Remus, and Peter about being pregnant, but they'd announced just tonight that they were expecting. Now apparently Alice and Frank had a similar statement.

Alice nodded, her hands on her barely-there belly, a ring glinting on her left finger. Sirius recalled Remus passing on word from Lily and James that Alice and Frank had gotten married. It hadn't been a very big occasion, with them only inviting a few close relatives and not bothering with a maid-of-honor or best man. But they'd loved the ceremony nevertheless, and Sirius felt happy for his friends. Of course, now Lily and James were envious and planning more fervently for their own wedding.

"I'm due in the summer, if all goes well," Alice said, her face flushed with a healthy pink color.

"Us, too," Lily replied, holding James' hand. Her green eyes shone brightly. "Oh! Alice! What if you have a boy and we have a girl? Or if we have a boy and you have a girl?"

"I know, I know! Right?"

"Girls," Frank intervened with a bemused smile, "we don't know the babies' genders yet."

"And already you're planning their betrothal," James stated with a roll of his eyes.

"But just think," Lily said with a dreamy look on her face. "Continuing the Potter line…"

"Or the Longbottom line," Alice supplied.

The girls sighed happily, and those who'd been listening nearby laughed, some with a nostalgic expression on their face. Molly _would've_ been nostalgic, if not for the matter that she was already showing— _again_!

"That'd be lovely," Molly commented. She glanced at Arthur. "What are you hoping for? I'd love a girl this time."

Arthur laughed. "With our luck, we'll have another boy before we get a girl to equalize all the testosterone in our house."

"What about you, Molly?" Remus asked. Sirius sat up from his slouchy position in the chair beside the werewolf. He always found it interesting whenever Remus and the topic of family came up in the same breath.

"I'm due in March, dear."

Remus beamed. "My birthday's in March."

"Ooh, what about naming him 'Remus'?" Molly mused, looking back to her husband.

"That'd be a first in the family…," Arthur said.

"You don't have to," Remus said in a rush, and Sirius snickered at his red face. "I was just making an observation."

"Well, maybe something with an R, though," Molly finished. "I mean, we've Bill, Charlie, Percy, Fred, and George so far. And the twins take a little after their uncles."

To the side of the room, Fabian and Gideon raised their Chocolate Frogs and toasted their sister with them. "Hear, hear!"

"What about you?" Sirius asked Alice and Frank.

Frank sighed as Alice said, very determinedly, "'Neville', for a boy. Perhaps 'Nadine' for a girl."

"She won't budge on it," Frank mouthed to him, James, and Remus.

"And you lot?" Sirius said with a cheeky grin to his best mate and his girl.

"Dunno yet," James answered, and Lily shook her head. "We'll wing it, I guess."

Sirius and Remus laughed, and Sirius eyed those around them. They were so in love and beaming… The Animagus watched Arthur rest his hands on the back of Molly's chair and gather Molly's red curls over one of her shoulders. Frank was similarly physical with Alice, gently tugging on the spiky ends of her hair. Even James couldn't help winding a tendril of Lily's hair around his finger when she leaned against him.

The Black son pouted. He and Remus had come to be… _so_ _much_ recently, but they didn't engage in PDA. Though Lily and James seemed to share every aspect of their lives with them, Sirius felt awkward at not even having told his best mate that he was officially in a relationship with Remus John Lupin.

Then Sirius thought of all the ladies' announcements… He and Remus would never have that. They were two _blokes_ , and, unless they kidnapped a baby or used a surrogate, they'd never have kids. Sirius frowned. He hadn't given it much thought until now, but he rather liked the idea of having a kid—at least, with Remus. Maybe the best they could hope for was to steal Lily and James' ilk. Yeah, okay, that would work.

Sirius came out of his thoughts when he felt a tug on his hair. He looked to the side and saw Remus' smiling face. "What's up?"

"You looked a little down…," Remus observed, his smile becoming a little sad. "I…I know how you feel."

"Oh?"

"We'll just have to steal Lily and James' from time to time."

Sirius' heart soared, and he grinned and leaned back into Remus' touch, not really caring what the others thought if they happened to look their way. "You know what, Rem?"

"Hmm?"

"Play with my hair again, please."

"Wha…? Well, okay…" Remus gathered his hair and alternated between twirling pieces and braiding pieces. He placed his chin on the top of Sirius' head as the latter reclined on the living room sofa and rested his head on Remus' chest. "You've got nice hair, luv," Remus commented.

Sirius softly laughed. _I'm sure our kids would've, too_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, yes. Neville and Harry were almost betrothed. *ROFL* And Ron was a Ron because of Remus. :D And, no, there will be no mpreg, sorry to disappoint/don't worry. This… X3 *fangirl squeal* Just awesome. Just, just awesome. And I just realized—only 15 more chappies! D: *le gasp* Has anyone realize a year has passed in the story already? *lol*
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :}
> 
> 2017 note: A tad bittersweet, but fluffy nevertheless. :') Also, I love how Sirius so casually thinks kidnapping a kid is an option.


	31. Sweet dreams

Perhaps it was a side-effect of working under Dumbledore's orders. Remus and Sirius had gone home to Sirius' apartment and crashed on Sirius' bed, not even bothering to change out of their clothes, they were so drained from having Apparated all over the place today. It hadn't helped that today had been so cold, either—bloody England chills!

But Remus fell into a quick, deep sleep, half curled on Sirius' chest. His thoughts drifted from real-life battles and bloodshed and moved on to a fantasy world of lords and ladies, of brave knights and braver steeds.

Yes, in this world was Lord Lupin, with his handsome, unscarred face and charming gaze. He was a wise and noble ruler of his small community, and no one had a bad word to say about Lord Lupin. Lord Lupin was just and kind but fierce when someone tried to command his people or mistreat them. Lord Lupin's people knew they could bring their complaints directly to him, for he could solve all their troubles with his knowledge, might, and magic. When some rules just needed enforcing, he found he could rely on someone else…

Sir Sirius.

Of course, dear readers, unbeknownst to Remus and his Lord Lupin thoughts, Sirius was having odd dreams himself. Sirius had fallen into a deep sleep after a few soft-turned-loud snores, and his mind's eye quickly formed a scenery of green pastures and flower fields, trod only by the most awesome of warriors and warlocks.

In this world, which happened to coexist with Remus' dream world, lived Sir Sirius, the bravest knight anyone could ever find. Sir Sirius was tall, gorgeous with his flowing ebony hair, mesmerizing with his silver–gray eyes, and awe-inducing with a smile unmatched by any other. His skill with his sword was, too, unmatched, and he was as fast on foot as he was on his brilliant stallion. Though he was a strong fighter, he preferred using his words to worm out of bad situations or to heal non-physical wounds. Besides, he would only raise his sword at the orders of one person…

Lord Lupin.

Sirius hugged Remus to him involuntarily, smiling even in his sleep.

Meanwhile, in dreamland… Lord Lupin had heard much about an awful man, the vile Viscount Voldemort. According to Lupin's people, Viscount Voldemort already had been busy destroying some of the nearby shires, and the word around was that Voldemort was heading for Lord Lupin's county. Even the usually cheerful Jester James would stop smiling at the sound of the viscount's name, leaving Lady Lily to console him.

Court maidens Mary and Marlene had only just brought the most recent news of Viscount Voldemort, saying he was looking to weed out every county's knights, leaving the nobles vulnerable. Maid Mary said that would mean Sir Sirius would have to go into hiding, and Maid Marlene said that, without fighters, Prince Peter—who had been missing for a while anyway—would truly be without protection.

Lord Lupin now faced a serious dilemma. He had sent out some of his good men in search of Prince Peter—like Boy Benjy and Count Caradoc—but no one returned. These days, to go in search of Prince Peter was an automatic death sentence.

On the other hand, Sir Sirius was Lord Lupin's favorite knight and aide. He constantly sought out his advice and companionship, and he'd often wondered if he wished Sir Sirius could've been a nobleman other than for the obvious reason that a friendship between different classes was hard on both parties. After all, the only children running around Lord Lupin's castle were those of Matron Molly and her husband, Armory-man Arthur.

Sir Sirius could see no better opportunity than this to serve his beloved Lord Lupin. He had known deep down, for a long time, that the reason the village maidens had never driven him wild was that Lord Lupin was the only one in his vision, day and night. Sir Sirius knew he would sacrifice his life any day for Lord Lupin, and he thought he would be proactive by asking Lord Lupin ahead of time to hunt down Viscount Voldemort.

Lord Lupin had most certainly panicked. He had not expected this at all! What would he do if he lost Sir Sirius? He couldn't think of ruling without Sir Sirius there by his side…but he also knew there was no reason he could truly keep Sir Sirius by his side. It was not as though Sir Sirius was Lord Lupin's lady—no, far from it! So Lord Lupin was forced to acquiesce and send his brave knight on this mission, the two of them bound only by their feudal relationship.

Sir Sirius departed from his beloved lord and set out on his mission with Jester James, visiting foreigner Fuehrer Frank, and motley-men Friendly Fabian and Giddy Gideon. They were a rag-tag group, sure, but they worked well together, and they slew many of the viscount's horrible Death Eaters—Dolohov, Mulciber, Rookwood, Rosier, Lestrange, Lestrange, and Lestrange… They even got the Malfoys and destroyed their manor!

The toughest part was the appearance of Sir Sirius' mortal foes, Regent Regulus and Sir Snivellus. Well, Sir Snivellus was really Sir Snape, but he was Sir Snivellus to Sir Sirius, he was just that evil. He was so evil that Sir Sirius knew him and Regent Regulus to be amongst Viscount Voldemort's closest followers, and it gave Sir Sirius much pride when he bested them in battle.

Then came the time to find the vile viscount himself. Sir Sirius and his friends searched high and low, going further and longer away from their loved ones. Jester James sorely missed Lady Lily, and Friendly Fabian and Giddy Gideon were not so friendly or giddy without their sister, Matron Molly, under their watchful eye. Fuehrer Frank, too, missed his pregnant wife, Altgravine Alice. Worst of all, Sir Sirius spent many nights sleepless, for all he could think was that he had left his Lord Lupin defenseless…

Lord Lupin had been strengthening his magic in Sir Sirius' absence, though. He also had come to rely on the wise words of Duke Dumbledore, though of course no one could compare to the understandings that passed between Lord Lupin and Sir Sirius. Each day, Lord Lupin wished for the safe return of his knight.

And then it happened! Sir Sirius and his comrades followed the viscount's trail into the evilest of all places—Madam Puddifoot's—and surprised Viscount Voldemort when he had been wooing Nurse Nagini. With a quick hack-and-slash job, Sir Sirius made short work of the viscount, and he had his companions bag the heads of Voldemort and Nagini to take back to Lord Lupin.

When the caravan returned home, Lord Lupin forgot his patrician etiquette and ran down the steps of his castle to Sir Sirius. He laughed with relief when Sir Sirius motioned to the heads of their enemies, but he felt whole once again when he pulled Sir Sirius into his arms for the warmest of embraces.

Sir Sirius followed Lord Lupin's example, understanding that they had not had a futile relationship at all. Lord Lupin understood all he had done for him, and Sir Sirius now knew Lord Lupin knew that it was Sir Sirius' way of showing his love.

And, to think, this had all happened once upon a time…

Back in reality, Remus was the first to wake, and he sat up, staring at Sirius. When Sirius opened his eyes, Remus cocked his head to one side. "Hey, Sirius…"

"Yes?" Sirius sat up, pulling Remus more onto his lap.

"Umm…never mind."

Sirius shrugged. "Whatever. Hey, weirdest thing—I feel like brandishing a sword against Voldy…."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hmm, chapter 31. Otherwise known as "The Alliteration Chapter." XD Quite honestly, I had been plotting this chappie since I misheard something in English class, causing the feudal/futile mix-up. XD Hope you liked it! ;3 Fyi, the next chappie is angsty… :O Side note: "Altgravine" is essentially a German title for a countess; "patrician" is something aristocratic. And there's your lesson for the day! B)
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :]
> 
> 2017 note: 6 yrs later and this chapter sticks out in my brain because I've not written anything like it since. XDDD I really hunted for a good title for Alice before I landed on altgravine, y'know. :O But I like to think their dream is a culmination of their hopes for the future…and where things stand so far in the war. :')


	32. Hot chocolate

" _That's. Not._ _ **Right**_ _._ "

Sirius spat his words at no one in particular, but he suddenly did not feel as though being at Remus' place was the best thing right now. It was no fault of Remus', but Sirius knew he should've just gone home on his own at this time.

 _I mean—this is supposed to be a_ good _time, one of_ _ **celebration**_ _!_ Sirius vehemently internally fumed, thinking of weddings, of babies, and of love. He couldn't believe tonight's meeting. It had been the shortest yet, and the most gruesome to date.

The McKinnons—all dead.

The Boneses—almost wiped out.

And the Order of the Phoenix seemed to be dwindling in numbers…

Sirius shook his head and blinked so hard to keep the tears he felt pricking the backs of his eyes from coming out. There was no believing that Edgar and his family had been nearly exterminated. Dumbledore had mentioned only briefly that the remaining handful of Boneses had been moved to a safe location. For the McKinnons, the story had not been so simple.

" _Marlene_ …!" Sirius hissed. His breath was ragged as he thought of their school years. Edgar, he had only known through a liking of Quidditch, because he'd been in Hufflepuff. Marlene had been one of them, though, a lion, a red soul, a _Gryffindor_. Sirius remembered when he and his fellow Marauders had stalked Lily in the halls at James' request, and when Marlene had tricked them into walking into McGonagall so Mary and Dorcas could spirit Lily away. Marlene had been a little cynic, a little tomboyish, but she had been one of _them_. Now…

Marlene… She was dead.

The thought was hard to process, and Sirius was grateful to Remus at least for guiding him to the couch before his knees gave out.

Dear Merlin… _Marlene_ …!

It was hitting home now that they truly were being picked off. Being in the Order of the Phoenix was tantamount to having a target painted on one's back, and Sirius was beginning to panic at the idea of whose target shown brightest now. His? Remus'? James' or Lily's? What about their unborn child's? Oh, Godric, was Voldemort really so inhuman that he'd come after James and Lily's baby whilst it was still in the womb?

"Sirius!" Remus knelt in front of him and hugged Sirius as tightly as he could without hurting him. His face was hot with suppressed tears, too. " _Sirius_ …"

Sirius couldn't hold back anymore. He let the tears crawl down his cheeks as he held Remus back. Then he pulled away. "That wasn't supposed to happen, Remus. It _wasn't_."

"I know." Remus' voice was so quiet, so sad… Sirius envisioned the houses of the other members were like that right now, too.

Sirius grimaced. "No one knew about the Boneses' involvement with us. And the McKinnons—their home was only known to us!" He paused, a dark realization hitting him. "Oh, Godric."

"What?" Remus searched his face, Sirius' panic mirrored in his expression.

Sirius snarled at nothing in particular. "That's just it. Only _we_ knew where they were."

Remus looked downright frightened. "Sirius, what are you—"

"The Order of the Phoenix!" Sirius gritted his teeth. "It has to be _one of us_!"

"No." Remus' voice was soft and quiet, serious and scared at once. "No, Sirius. Do you even know what that means?"

"Moony, my whole family is a bunch of traitors. Sad to say, I'm used to the backstabbing." He stared into those warm brown eyes. "The only place I didn't find that treachery has been with the Marauders."

The look on Remus' face was heartbreaking. "Sirius…" He wrapped his arms around the taller man's midsection, and Sirius wiped his own cheeks while he held his love.

"We—We should go see Dumbledore about this."

Remus looked up at him. "You think you know who it is?"

Sirius bit his lip. "… _maybe_ …"

"You can't just hold it in. Who, Padfoot? Who?"

"Sni—Snape."

Sirius watched as Remus squinted at him and shook his head. "Good Merlin, you've got to be kidding me…"

"Remus, come on!"

"No, Sirius, _you_ come on." Remus cupped Sirius' clean-shaven cheek and rubbed his thumb up and down on his skin. "Sirius, we're done with school. That's behind us now, luv. You can't keep on hating Snape forever."

"He's an awful person." Sirius brushed Remus' hand away. "And he'll never get over Lily."

"Sirius…that, too, is a misreading on your part—they'd once been best mates, nothing more."

"Then why does he skulk about some of the meetings? Do you really think he has a good bone in his body?" He couldn't fight glaring at Remus over this matter. This was one thing on which they'd never agreed—and probably never would.

"Padfoot." The werewolf was stern and refused to let the gray-eyed wizard turn this into something more. "Dumbledore trusts Snape, and I trust Professor Dumbledore. Therefore…I trust Snape." Still, the words appeared to cause some discomfort even as he spoke them.

Sirius quieted, humbled by Remus' strong attitude with him. "…all right, then. If not Snivellus, then who?"

Remus scratched his head. "I dunno. I don't see any of us as actually being sketchy…"

"Those of us left, you mean."

Remus sighed and sat beside Sirius. "Yeah, those of us left."

Sirius thought a moment. Of those left, he couldn't see Lily, James, or the Weasleys as having any Dark involvement. The Prewett twins were nonsensical, not evil. None of their teachers or classmates made sense, either. Mundungus Fletcher was a downright idiot, and Peter… Well, Peter only appeared every so often. Actually, _Snape_ came to meetings more often than Pete did. But Sirius couldn't see Peter as evil, either; like Dung Fletcher, he just wasn't bright enough to scheme. Good schemers were few and far between…

His eyes drifted sideways to Remus. Remus had always been a good planner… _and he's a wolf, too,_ Sirius' conscience taunted him. He shook his head. The odd thought about Remus seeming too positive about a situation's outcome or being too confident about a mission had hit Sirius before, no doubt…but…a _traitor_? Remus the traitor? There was no ring to it. Even taking into account his condition, Remus just wasn't the type… _And Dumbly isn't the type to make mistakes, but he trusts Snivellus_.

The eldest Black son shook his head, his hair forming a curtain in front of his face. He didn't want to think those thoughts, especially now that they were finally happy. This was Remus, _his_ Remus he was thinking about! For crying out loud…wasn't there anything in this world that made sense anymore…?

But, if that were the case, then why would good people like the Boneses and the McKinnons be dead?

Sirius sighed as a wave of sobs bottled up in his chest. He leaned against Remus, who placed an arm around him once more. " _Marlene_ …," Sirius breathed.

Remus nodded. "I…I'll go make us something… How does hot chocolate sound, Pads, hmm?"

"That…that sounds good, Moony." He gently tugged on Remus' hand so the werewolf bent down, and Sirius pecked his cheek very tenderly. He watched Remus blush and disappear into his kitchen, and Sirius loosed another sigh. If only he could escape these thoughts that had now been planted….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :O Oh, noes! Well, it is a canon thing, that Riu (from Sirius) suspected Rem… But how sad! D: On the bright side, we've got several light and fun chappies ahead. Just keep in mind the timeline, my readers… Dun-dun-dun! ;]
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :)
> 
> 2017 note: I always like to think that Sirius and Marlene got along famously, since she was spunky. So her death would've hit him very hard. :') But, GODS, just rereading Sirius' suspicion of Rem hurts. ;w;


	33. Road trips with friends

"So, where the heck are we going?" Remus shouted from behind Sirius.

"You'll see!" James answered, his voice full of laughter.

Sirius struggled to maintain a good grip on his broom's handle, considering the speed at which they were flying to try and keep up with James and Lily. It was a breezy February afternoon, one that felt a whole lot more like spring than winter. Actually, the dawning of the spring of 1980 appeared to have turned up a little earlier on schedule than usual—not that anyone was complaining. But, sunshine or cold— _no_ _one_ was meant to fly on a broom for almost three hours straight.

"Why couldn't we have just _Apparated_?" Sirius whined, choking on his hair as it whipped in his face over and over.

"That would take the fun out of it!" Lily screamed, a smile similar to James' painted on her face. As she was on James' broom with him, she pressed her body a little more tightly against his and tightened her grip around his waist. It was as though Lily had traded brains with someone else for the day!

Remus pulled his broom up alongside Sirius, and they exchanged a look. Whatever James and Lily were getting them into, it was unlikely to be the safest of bets. After all, James had been working on corrupting Lily, and, if today was any measure of success…

Even at these high speeds, Peter's stomach growled so loudly on the other side of James that the other four heard it, and the group of friends howled with laughter. "Don't laugh at me! I skipped brunch since you said you'd feed me!" the blond squeaked at the ringleader.

"Soon enough, Wormtail," James reassured him. He dropped his gaze below them for a moment. "Ah, speak of the devil, we're just about there!"

Lily, too, looked down, and she positively beamed. "They're already here!"

" _Who_?!" Remus and Sirius asked in conjunction.

They were forced to follow James and Lily down without an answer. At one point they almost lost sight of James, for his landing was swift and soft, partly in thanks to his Quidditch days. But they caught up to him just as their feet touched the ground. James hadn't even stopped before Lily had hopped off and run towards a woman and man who bore a little resemblance to their redheaded Gryffindor.

Remus blinked while Sirius just stared at the sight. "Oh," the werewolf said, surprised.

"Who—?" Sirius began again, but then he noticed that the man had Lily's green eyes, and the woman had Lily's red hair. They were Lily's parents.

"Welcome to the family," James quipped to his best mates as he pocketed his broom and went over to shake Lily's father's hand and take a large bear hug from her mother.

"I'm Rosemary Evans," Lily's mother said, shaking the boys' hands.

"I'm Lawrence Evans," Lily's father provided, also shaking their hands.

"Lily, why don't we go?" Rosemary asked her daughter.

"Go where? We just got here," Sirius said, unable to keep a hint of annoyance from leaking into his tone.

James took a step towards his friends, and his shirt and denims Transfigured into a nice set of wizard's robes. "Well, see, that's the thing…"

"OH, MY GODRIC, YOU'RE GETTING MARRIED?!"

Remus rolled his eyes. "I love how you grasp _that_ faster than Lily's parents…"

Sirius stuck his tongue out at his love and then glared at James. "Why didn't you tell us? Why didn't you tell _me_?"

"We wanted to plan it in secret," James answered, his smile dropping a bit. "Besides, Dumbledore said nothing too flashy. We've gotta keep a low profile, Pads. We didn't know about Alice and Frank either, remember?"

"But _you're_ my best mate," the Black son groused, trying to sound angry but only sounding lame and defeated.

James gave him a sad smile and leaned his arms on Sirius' shoulders, leaning their foreheads together. "We're _brothers_ , Sirius, you know that. It's why I want you to be my best man." James peeked around him at Remus. "You don't mind, do you, Moony?"

"Not at all," Remus replied with a grin.

The Potter son looked back to Sirius. "Then what do you say, Sirius? Can I get married now? And will you be my best man?"

Sirius gaped at James. In one minute, he'd gone from being suspicious to being upset to being angry to being mopey, and he was pretty much going to stay mopey for now. He hugged the life out of James. "Of course, you stupid twit. Why _wouldn't_ I be?"

"Good. Then get changed!"

"But I don't have—"

"I'm sure Remus can figure out the spell if _I_ could," James stated, gesturing to his own clothes. "I leave Sirius in your hands, Moony."

"Of course," the werewolf answered.

"No, I leave Sirius in your hands, Moony."

Remus furrowed his brow. "James, I—"

James waved to both of them before walking off and not explaining what he meant. Sirius looked at Remus. "I guess the only thing to do now is to get our wedding on, right?"

Remus laughed a little. "Yeah…but not in denims and jumpers."

As Remus helped Sirius and Peter change into wizard's robes, Sirius picked at his brain for the right words for his speech. After all, wasn't that kind of the point of him being the best man, to make the toast at the reception? Wait, were James and Lily having a reception? What if it was more like a little "Okay, thanks for coming, see you at the next Order meeting" kinda thing? Or what if they decided to take a couple of days off? Sirius had heard of wedding celebrations dragging out into days—they did that in some countries, you know. Did they do that in England? Sirius couldn't remember; he hadn't been married.

Which only served to bring up a new problem: He and Remus still hadn't said anything to James and Lily about their relationship. What if it slipped out in his speech, Sirius comparing his relationship with Remus to the one between James and Lily? Oh, Merlin, that would be _bad_. Especially with their few friends from school and the Order coming by Portkey. Interestingly enough, Lily's sister wasn't there, and Lily mentioned that Petunia wanted to have nothing to do with "a bastardization of matrimony between freaks." Huh, what a weirdo. Them, the freaks? Anyone wanting to keep away from a magical ceremony was a freak… Not as much of a freak as Dung Fletcher, who had just arrived in a really horrid-looking fuchsia shirt and fluorescent orange pants with purple polka dots and… Oh, yeah, what had Sirius been thinking about? Oh, his best man's speech, right…

"Sirius, are you all right?" Remus stared at his love for a brief minute.

"Uh, fine, fine…" Sirius pecked his cheek and grinned at the lovely shade of scarlet the brunet turned. "Ah, much better."

It really was a small wedding, but…it _suited_ all that James and Lily were. Both of them had their parents there, and Dumbledore actually officiated their vows, much to everyone's amazement. He could do so according to his Order of Merlin or something like that…Sirius half listened to that part.

But it was very nice. Sirius was James' best man, with Remus and Peter as his groomsmen. Mary was Lily's maid-of-honor, with Alice as her only other bridesmaid; they placed two small bouquets on the ground where Dorcas and Marlene would've stood, had they still been alive. Their few friends just stood near the bridal parties, and, once the ceremony was over, the groups interspersed while munchies weaved their way in and out of the crowd. Dumbledore did not stay very long, as he needed a word with Mad-Eye and McGonagall, who had not been in attendance.

Despite Dumbledore's Dumbledore-ish behavior, everyone… _everything_ seemed to be fine. It was amusing to watch Hagrid blow his nose into a tablecloth-sized hankie, and Rosemary and Molly were already talking about their children's futures. Lily had little to say on the subject, though anyone could see her fourth-month-old bump beneath her shiny white dress.

Without a formal dinner, Sirius honestly thought he was off the hook for a speech…but when James, that little jerk, conjured some chairs and tables with his father's help and smirked at Sirius, Sirius knew he'd have to forget his nerves and wing it. And he should be fine winging it, right? How many times had winging it saved his sorry bum from detention? A lot. _I_ _think_ , the Animagus inwardly groaned.

James tapped on his flute of firewhiskey. "Ahem, ahem! Attention, everyone! I think Sirius has something to say!"

Sirius sent James a dirty look. _You owe me for this, Prongs._

 _You knew you'd have to do this_ some _day,_ James' look appeared to say.

The Black son sighed and remained standing while the others seated themselves. "Er, right… As James said," he began in a loud voice, "I've something to say."

Haha. Funny… Weird… Had these people always looked like such strangers? Or was Sirius wearing something funny…? Oh, no—he _was_ wearing clothes at least, right?!

Sirius cleared his voice. "I think we all know James pretty well by now, the sly git he is…" The crowd chuckled, and James stuck his tongue out at Sirius. "But I think the thing anyone here knows best about James is that he's persistent—to a fault."

On the other side of James, Lily was shaking with silent laughter. She probably understood Sirius' words best.

"James is persistent, pigheaded, a right prat if you give him the chance, a toad, a troll, a—what was your choice word for him, Lils?"

"Toe-rag!" Lily supplied, loving where this was heading. She couldn't keep her laughter in anymore, though James was glaring at her in spite of being as red as her hair.

"Ah, yes, a toe-rag… But we get to call him those things because we love him, and there's always another side of the story, as MickeyGonagall loved to remind us of every now and then. He was a toe-rag when defending classmates and friends against jerks. He could be a troll when rolling out of the bed in the morning, but who isn't?" Remus, Peter, and Frank all nodded at that. "He was a toad…well, okay, so maybe a toad was a bad example."

"Hey!" James yelled.

"Definitely a prat whenever he scored shots on the Quidditch pitch." Their schoolmates and James' parents all rolled their eyes and groaned. "Pigheaded when he thought he was right…but at least he was standing up for his beliefs." Sirius turned to James. "But he's always been persistent, at the best and at the worst of times. Whether making friends, winning someone over to his argument, or convincing the love of his life that he was the love of hers, James has always been _James_ —"

"You mean 'James Thaddeus Potter,'" Mary, Fabian, and Gideon chirped. Peals of laughter erupted.

"Yes, yes, he's always been James Thaddeus Potter," Sirius wrapped up, holding in his chuckling as well as Remus was doing beside him, "and I don't think any of us would change that for the world. Lily, you take care of that man—he's the only brother I've got, you know." He winked at her and then looked at James. "And, oi, mate, try to hold on to her, will you? I don't think there's any other woman in this universe who could stand you! I know I've got the long hair and Remmy's got the feminine personality—"

"HEY!" Remus barked, a lovely pink.

"—but that doesn't mean we wanna marry you." Sirius lifted his drink. "To the new Potters!"

"The new Potters!" the guests agreed.

"And the littlest one to come!" Sirius added with a snort of laughter, and he downed his drink.

Then it clicked right as James and Lily got up to dance. Hadn't Sirius just left James in Lily's good hands…?

His right eye twitched, catching Remus' attention.

"Is something wrong, Sirius?" Remus prodded. He touched Sirius' knee after the latter sat back down.

Sirius stared at James as the newly-wedded couple danced and guests joined in. "That ruddy git…!"

Remus looked confused and leaned his head on Sirius' shoulder. "What _now_?"

"James, that ruddy git…!" Sirius impatiently tapped his foot on the ground, his eyes dancing along with James' and Lily's forms.

The werewolf smiled. "Is that your human way of wagging your tail?"

"Not now, Rem." Though Sirius felt his face warm at Remus' comment.

Eventually James got the message, and he and Lily exited the floor to join Sirius and Remus off to the side. "What's wrong, Padfoot? Cat got your tongue?"

Sirius' cheeks reddened. "When you were speaking with us earlier, you…"

"Yes…? Or is it," James continued, his hazel eyes darting back and forth between his two friends, "that a _werewolf_ has got your tongue?"

Remus and Sirius froze, and Remus looked like a dithering idiot, gaping like that, eyes wide. "AH— WHA— HOW— WHEN— IF— YOU— BUT— DUH— WHU— AGH—!"

Sirius blushed a deep magenta. "We were planning to tell you."

"Oh, really?" James raised an eyebrow. "You probably were about as ready to tell me, tell us, as we were to tell you about the wedding."

"That's. _Different_."

Lily groaned and glared at James. "Dammit, so they really are…"

James nodded. "Uh-huh. You know the deal."

"But we're married now, so all the money technically will stay in one account…"

"A deal's a deal, love. All's fair in love and war."

Sirius gaped at his best friend. "Wait, you _bet on us_?"

"Correct!" James said, no trace of shame on his glowing face. "And you should really thank me for having more faith in you two. Lily lost because she thought you two might _still_ be dawdling—"

"Well, you were being really awkward about it," she offered by way of an apology.

The Black son shook his head. "Oh, good Merlin… I can't believe…" He paused, thinking back on his speech. "Oh, wait. Nope, I believe you two. It's the James thing to do."

James gave a hearty laugh. "That's the spirit, Pads!" He clapped him on the arm. "Now loosen up—it's a _party_ , mate!"

Sirius looked back at Remus, who still looked pretty shocked that James and Lily had figured them out already. _Ah, what the hell? The important ones know now,_ Sirius thought. He grabbed Remus. "Hey, everyone! James loves Lily!" Sirius bellowed.

"We know!" came the response.

"And I love Remus!"

"We know!" the crowd repeated. Mary, Fabian, Gideon, Frank, and Alice all rolled their eyes and made gagging noises at the Animagus' mawkishness.

"Oh, forget you!" he yelled with a grin. Sirius really didn't care anymore as he swept Remus off his feet and dipped him down for their best dancing snog ever.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :] … :)))) It's funny, because I knew ONE thing I wanted to achieve in this chappie—namely, the wedding. As I thought about it and found an old line I'd jotted down (Rem's "Is that your human way…"), I found that this chapter wrote Remmius' announcement itself. Which is fine by me, because I think it wasn't much of a surprise to those closest to them. This doesn't translate to lots of PDA now in the presence of the Order, it just means a new level of comfort…perhaps. One mustn't forget Sirius' nagging suspicions… ;3 So the next 2 chappies will still be ridiculous, and 36 & 37 will be toning that down…but I'll give you fair warning that 38's gonna be a heart-wrencher. Dx Until then. :]
> 
> Thanks for reading, and please review!
> 
> -mew! :}
> 
> 2017 note: Ah, yes! XD This was such fun to write, and probably the most "traditional" Wizarding wedding I've written? I've written more since, but those have a marked difference to them, no doubt. And putting this in Sirius' POV was too funny to pass up. XD


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